Gerrit van Honthorst (Dutch, 1592–1656), A Boy Blowing on a Firebrand, 1621–22. Oil on canvas, 75.5 × 64.5 cm. Framed: 100.7 × 88.6 × 5.4 cm. 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, 2018.135 © Art Institute of Chicago 

Depictions like this one of a boy blowing on a burning ember were popular among European painters studying illumination. Artists like Michelangelo and El Greco used this subject to showcase their skills at imitating nature, particularly the fleeting reflections of fi relight. In Gerrit van Honthorst’s version, the youth gazes quizzically at the viewer while blowing on the titular fi rebrand, which he is using to light the candle in his right hand. The boy wears a slashed doublet and a slouched, feathered beret, which in the artist’s day would have been viewed as an antiquated costume of the previous century.

Born into a family of artists, Honthorst followed the traditional path of many Dutch and Flemish artists by moving to Rome to study. A Boy Blowing on a Firebrand was painted shortly after he returned to his native Utrecht in 1620. The subject itself derives from antiquity: Roman author Pliny’s Natural History (77–79 CE) not only profoundly influenced the principles of Renaissance art but also described lost paintings of the classical period, including one of a boy blowing on an ember. Aft er spending several successful years working in Rome, Honthorst brought this theme back with him to the Netherlands, where it was appreciated by sophisticated collectors who recognized its origins in an ancient text.