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By tradition, the promising young artists of the Netherlands rounded off their education with a trip to the art centers of Italy.1 Honthorst’s itinerary has not yet been mapped out, but by studying the available documents, we know of several routes customarily taken by the young painters. Van Mander says that Hendrick Goltzius sailed from Amsterdam to Hamburg and then went overland to Rome, stopping at Munich, Venice, Bologna and Florence.2 Honthorst might also have crossed the Alps by way of the St. Gotthard Pass as did his fellow-townsman Hendrick Terbrugghen on his return to Utrecht in 1614.3 Another possible route was to travel through France, possibly visiting Paris, and then taking a boat from Marseilles, landing at Livorno, Naples or Rome.

Shortly after completing his large Adoration of the Shepherds. in Rome, Honthorst began his journey home to the Netherlands. He arrived in Utrecht during the late summer or early fall of 1620 and found there an atmosphere very different from that which he had left behind about ten years earlier. There had been a radical change of government in 1618 when John van Oldenbarnevelt, the leader of the opposition to Prince Maurits, was arrested and the Synod of Dordt was convened. As a result of these events, Honthorst, as a Catholic, was disqualified from holding public office and the earlier provisions against the freedom of worship were more stringently applied. It is difficult to know how this situation affected his position as an artist during the latter part of 1620 and in 1621 because of the lack of documented paintings. Whether or not his fame in Italy preceded him home to Utrecht and how influential it was in obtaining commissions for him is also an open question.1 However, some indication of his reputation in the early months in Utrecht is to be found in a letter written by Sir Dudley Carleton in The Hague to the Earl of Arundel in London, dated June 1621.2 Carleton says that Honthorst is “growing into reputacion in these parts…” A phrase which implies that Honthorst continued to work without interruption during those early years and that the intolerant attitudes toward Catholics did not touch the artists, although their choice of subject matter was restricted since the Catholic Church was no longer in a position to grant commissions.1

Within two years after his return from Italy, Honthorst executed a painting which was revolutionary for the decoration of Dutch interiors. His 1622 signed and dated Musical Ceiling, Collection F. Stonor, London (Cat. Rais. 198; fig. 24), marked the beginning of illusionistic ceiling decoration in the Netherlands.1 Prior to that time, Dutch ceilings usually consisted of natural oak beams, often painted in a warm red-brown or green, and as a rule, they were decorated with carved ornaments such as lion heads and family crests.2 This break with the traditional Dutch ceiling decoration was not widespread, but it was the beginning of an interest in Italian illusionistic ceilings and an attempt to employ this decorative style in private Dutch houses which later extended to town halls and palaces.