Herman Doomer or Hermann Dommers (1595 – 14 March 1650) was a Dutch Golden Age furniture and frame-maker who is best known today for his portrait by Rembrandt.[1]
Life
He was born in Anrath, near Venlo, and married Baertje Martens from Naarden in 1618. He ran a successful business in ebony-veneer furniture and frames in the Kalverstraat, Gasthuismolensteeg and Hartenstraat.[2][3][4] By 1625 Doomer already played a prominent role within the group of Amsterdam ebony workers.[5] At times he collaborated with Pieter Quast and Johannes Lutma. From 1641 he used colored baleen.[6]
He was very inventive in his use of material, for example, baleen or whalebone, which was pressed in a metal mould. He also used different types of tropical wood, which he decorated with images or fine marquetry of mother-of-pearl and ivory.[7]
His son Lambert Doomer, a landscape painter, assisted the mother in the business.[8] He inherited both portraits and made copies for his siblings.[9]
Pendant portrait
Gasthuismolensteeg 11 top
Gasthuismolensteeg 13 top
Portrait of Baertje Martens, St.Petersburg, Hermitage.
Furniture
An engraved mother-of-pearl inlaid ebony cabinet by Herman Doomer, collection Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, object number BK-1975-81.
A tulip-themed ebony cabinet by Herman Doomer, collection Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum, Rotterdam
Detail of an engraved mother-of-pearl inlaid table cabinet attributed to Herman Doomer in The Metropolitan, New York, accession number 2011.181.
An engraved mother-of-pearl inlaid table cabinet attributed to Herman Doomer in The Metropolitan, New York, accession number 2011.181.
An engraved mother-of-pearl inlaid table cabinet attributed to Herman Doomer in The Metropolitan, New York, accession number 2011.181.
An engraved mother-of-pearl inlaid baleen and ebony table cabinet attributed or by Herman Doomer, vetted as such and sold by Dutch dealer Zebregs&Röell at Tefaf Maastricht, 2023.
An engraved mother-of-pearl inlaid baleen and ebony table cabinet attributed or by Herman Doomer, vetted as such and sold by Dutch dealer Zebregs&Röell at Tefaf Maastricht, 2023.
An ebony cabinet by Herman Doomer, collection Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum, Rotterdam.
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