Nicolaes Pieterszoon Berchem
Nicolaes Pieterszoon Berchem (1 October 1620 – 18 February 1683) was a highly esteemed and prolific
He was a member of the second generation of "Dutch Italianate landscape" painters. These were artists who travelled to Italy, or aspired to, in order to soak up the romanticism of the country, bringing home sketchbooks full of drawings of classical ruins and pastoral imagery. His paintings, of which he produced an immense number, (Hofstede de Groot claimed around 850, although many are misattributed), were in great demand, as were his 80 etchings and 500 drawings. His landscapes, painted in the Italian style of idealized rural scenes, with hills, mountains, cliffs and trees in a golden dawn are sought after. Berchem also painted inspired and attractive human and animal figures (staffage) in works of other artists, like Allaert van Everdingen, Jan Hackaert, Gerrit Dou, Meindert Hobbema and Willem Schellinks.
Biography
Born in
In 1645 he became a member of the Dutch reformed church and married the year after. According to Houbraken he married the daughter of the painter Jan Wils, who kept him on a short allowance, but to finance his collection of prints he would borrow money from his pupils and colleagues and pay them back from the proceeds of paintings that he didn't tell her about.
He was a popular teacher and his pupils were
The French Rococo painter Jean-Baptiste Pillement was influenced by his works, as was the Dutch 'Cleves Romanticism' landscape painter, Barend Cornelis Koekkoek.
Further reading
- ISBN 0-947645-99-3
Gallery
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Milkmaids and Shepherds with their Flock at the Mouth of a Grotto, a Drover Watering his Cattle beyond, oil on canvas, 1665
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A Peasant Couple by a Tree with Cattle and Sheep, pen and brown ink, brown wash
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A Southern Harbour Scene, ca. 1657–1659
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A Moor Presenting a Parrot to a Lady, ca. 1655
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Landscape with Herdsmen Gathering Sticks, early 1650s
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"Winter Landscape", 1652 (photo by Caldesi & Montecchi, 1857)
References
- ^ a b c d e f Nicolaes Pietersz Berchem at the Netherlands Institute for Art History (in Dutch)
- ^ Digital library for Dutch literature
- ^ Pieter Claesz in the RKD
- ^ Jan Frans Soolmaker at the Netherlands Institute for Art History (in Dutch)
External links
- 96 artworks by or after Nicolaes Pieterszoon Berchem at the Art UK site
- Gallery of works
- Works by Nicolaes Berchem at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
- rijksmuseum.nl
- emslandgeschichte.de
- Berchem in Italy: notes on an unpublished painting
- Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 3 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.