
A Boy Blowing on a Firebrand
Purchased with funds provided by the Old Masters Society, Julius Lewis and the Rhoades Foundation, Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan in memory of Alice Welsh Skilling and in honor of Marlene Welsh Phillips and Martha Wolff, Anne Searle Bent in honor of Martha Wolff, and Scott, Lynda, Jonathan, Shiran, and Lindsey Canel in honor of Martha Wolff; purchased with funds provided by Chauncey and Marion D. McCormick Family Foundation in honor of Martha Wolff; Marilyn H. Quinn Fund; purchased with funds provided by Mrs. John W. Madigan and Donald and Carol Asher; through prior gifts of Chester D. Tripp and of the Frederick T. Haskell Collection; purchased with funds provided by John D. and Alexandra C. Nichols in honor of Martha Wolff; Murray and Virginia Vale Purchase Fund; through prior gift of George F. Harding Collection; through prior gift of Ambrose Cramer; through prior purchase of Charles H. and Mary F. S. Worcester Collection; through prior gift of Arthur B. Logan; purchased with funds provided by David Earle III and Marian Pawlick in honor of Martha Wolff
Catalogue
- Year
- 1621
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 75.5 × 64.5 cm (30 × 25 3/8 in.); Framed: 100.7 × 88.6 × 5.4 cm (39 5/8 × 34 7/8 × 2 1/8 in.)
- Collection
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Artist
- Gerard van Honthorst
Artist

Painting
Gerard "Gerrit" van Honthorst was a Dutch Golden Age painter who became known for his depiction of artificially lit scenes, eventually receiving the Italian nickname Gherardo delle Notti. Early in his career he visited Rome, where he had great success painting in a style influenced by Caravaggio. Following his return to the Netherlands he became a leading portrait painter. Van Honthorst's contemporaries included Utrecht painters Hendrick ter Brugghen and Dirck van Baburen.
Full artist profile →More
More by Gerard van Honthorst
Self Portrait
1655 · canvas, oil paint (paint)
Frederick Henry, his Consort Amalia of Solms, and their Three Youngest Daughters
1647 · canvas, oil paint (paint)
Staande man in harnas
1625 · brush on cartridge paper, chalk
Musical Scene
1625 · black ink wash over pen and brown ink and black chalk over graphite on gray-brown paper with white heightening, incised
Willem II van Oranje-Nassau en Maria Stuart
1625 · brush on ink, chalk, cartridge paper
Meleager en Atalanta
1625 · pen on chalk, cartridge paper
Record
Verified by WattsOS- Artist
- Gerard van Honthorst
- Year
- 1621
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 75.5 × 64.5 cm (30 × 25 3/8 in.); Framed: 100.7 × 88.6 × 5.4 cm (39 5/8 × 34 7/8 × 2 1/8 in.)
- Watts ID
- WW-1621-331783
Source
- Collection
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Source
- aic
- Reference
- View at source
- Status
- verified




