17^th Century Dutch

Portrait painter.

The son of a Dutch goldsmith, he first trained under the printmaker Hieronymus Wierix, and subsequently under Willem Willemz and Augusteyn of Delft. Anthonie van Montfoort, who had seen two of his early engravings with religious themes ―Christ and the Samaritan and Judith and Holofernes― invited him to enrol at his school in Utrecht. He is recorded as a member of the Guild of Saint Luke in The Hague in 1625.

Initially devoted to still lifes, genre painting and mythological scenes, he later focused on portrait painting, a genre accounting for the most part of his surviving output. His success and the huge amount of commissions he received led him to set up a workshop with many assistants, where hundreds —perhaps over 2,000— portraits were created, out of which some 500 existing portraits may be attributed to his own handiwork. Those works stand out for their precise drawing, light free-flowing brushwork, harmonious colour and elegance, as well as his mastery in capturing the psychology of the model and also the meticulous work invested in the depiction of their clothing.

Many royal families of the time requested his services, including the King of Sweden, the Count Palatine of Neuburg, Charles I of England and Albert VII, Archduke of Austria, at whose court in Delft he lived and who rewarded him with a pension.