Hieronymus Galle or Hieronymus Galle I or the Elder [1] (1625 in Antwerp – 1679 in Antwerp) was a Flemish painter, who specialized in still lifes of fruit and flowers and hunting pieces. He collaborated with his fellow painters on garland paintings, i.e. paintings showing a garland of flowers or fruit around a devotional image or portrait.
Hieronymus Galle was the son of Elizabeth Claessens and Huibrecht Galle, Antwerp's envoy to the court in Brussels.[2] He was a pupil of Abraham Hack, who also taught the prolific Jan van den Hecke. He joined the Antwerp Guild of St. Luke in 1636 and became master in 1645-46.[3]
He travelled to Italy and was documented in Rome in 1661-1662. He shared lodgings in Rome with his compatriot Franciscus de Neve (II).[4] After his stay in Rome he signed his works with the Italianized form of his name, Girolimo.[5]
It is believed he had a career in Antwerp where the last record about Galle dates to 1679.[3] There are further indications that he worked in Brussels where he joined the local Guild of Saint Luke.[6] [7]
He was known mainly for his flower and fruit still lifes. He also painted hunting pieces and garland paintings. He is further known for vanitas paintings.[3] About 15 signed and dated paintings executed between 1643 and 1680 are known.[8]
He was initially a follower of the leading Antwerp flower painters Daniel Seghers and Jan Brueghel the Elder.[2] [9] While Seghers generally bathed his flowers in full light, Galle more typically relied on an animated play of light and shade in his compositions. In his palette he showed a preference for salmon-pink tonalities.[8] In comparison to Seghers, Galle’s work is more modern and his floral compositions are more dense and more picturesque in their conception.[6]
His still lifes further show he absorbed Roman still life traditions of the mid-17th century. During his stay in Rome he would have been exposed to this tradition, which itself was influenced by Flemish still life painters such as Abraham Brueghel.[8] The work of Italian artists such as Paolo Porpora and Michelangelo di Campidoglio may have been an influence on his work too.[9]
A vanitas painting by his hand is kept in the collection of the Museum of Western and Oriental Art, Kyiv.[7]
He painted a number of paintings in the genre of garland paintings, a special type of still life developed in Antwerp by Jan Brueghel the Elder in collaboration with the Italian cardinal Federico Borromeo at the beginning of the 17th century.[10] The genre was initially connected to the visual imagery of the Counter-Reformation movement.[10] It was further inspired by the cult of veneration and devotion to Mary prevalent at the Habsburg court (then the rulers over the Southern Netherlands) and in Antwerp generally.[10] [11] Garland paintings typically show a flower garland around a devotional image, portrait or other religious symbol (such as the host).[11] By the second half of the century secular themes such as portraits and mythological subjects also decorated the central part of the many paintings made in this fashion.[12] Garland paintings are typically a collaboration between a figure painter and a flower painter.
Galle is known to have collaborated with Cornelis Schut on a garland painting referred to as A trompe l'oeil relief of the Pietà in a stone carved tondo, surrounded by festoons of flowers and thistles (Sold at Christie's on 11 May 2005 in Amsterdam lot 29).[13]
Galle was likely an influence on the French still life painter Jean-Baptiste Monnoyer who resided in Antwerp for some time.[14]