Adriaen de Bie (3 October 1593 – 20 October 1668) was a

Flemish Flemish (''Vlaams'') is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Dutch ( ), or Southern Dutch (). Flemish is native to Flanders, a historical region in northern Belgium; ...

painter, who is known for portraits, biblical scenes for churches and Italianate landscapes. In his youth he travelled to Paris and resided for a long period in Italy. He trained in Antwerp and was the father of the poet and artist biographer

Cornelis de Bie Cornelis de Bie (10 February 1627 – ) was a Flemish '' rederijker'', poet, jurist and minor politician from Lier. He is the author of about 64 works, mostly comedies. He is known internationally today for his biographical sketches of Flemish ...

.Adriaen de Bie (1593–1668)
at the

Netherlands Institute for Art History The Netherlands Institute for Art History or RKD (Dutch: RKD-Nederlands Instituut voor Kunstgeschiedenis), previously Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie (RKD), is located in The Hague and is home to the largest art history center i ...

Life

De Bie was born in Lier. His son Cornelis de Bie reports that he studied painting in Antwerp under the artist

Wouter Abts Wouter Abts (in French, Gautier Abts) was born at Lier, near Antwerp, possibly in 1582. He was a pupil of Willem de Vos (Guillaume de Vos in French). Little is known about his life. He was admitted as a master to the Guild A guild ( ) is an a ...

. This information is not confirmed by the Liggeren, the records of Antwerp's Guild of Saint Luke. In 1611 he travelled to Paris where he lived for two years with his teacher the Flemish painter Rudolph Schoof, who was court painter of Louis XIII. From Paris he continued in 1614 on to Rome where he stayed for six years. It is possible that around 1620 he shared in Rome lodgings with the Dutch painter

Hendrick ter Brugghen Hendrick Jansz ter Brugghen (or Terbrugghen) (1588 – 1 November 1629) was a Dutch painter of genre scenes and religious subjects. He was one of the Dutch followers of Caravaggio – the so-called ''Utrecht Caravaggisti''. Along with Gerrit va ...

.Ch. Schuckman, "Did Hendrick ter Brugghen revisit Italy? Notes from an unknown manuscript by Cornelis de Bie." in: Hoogsteder-Naumann Mercury, 4 (1986), 7–22 He then spent three years visiting important Italian cities. His patrons included Cardinals, for whom he made paintings on panel as well as on precious metals such as gold and silver plates and on porphyry and jasper.Adriaen de Bie biography
in Cornelis de Bie, ''Het Gulden Cabinet'', 1661, pp. 230–233 He returned to Lier in 1623. He painted portraits and decorations for the St. Gummarus church above the altar of

St. Eligius Saint Eligius (also Eloy, Eloi or Loye; french: Éloi; 11 June 588 – 1 December 660 AD) is the patron saint of goldsmiths, other metalworkers, and coin collectors. He is also the patron saint of veterinarians, the Royal Electrical and Mechani ...

, the patron saint of goldsmiths. He died in Lier on 20 October 1668.

Work

Very few of Adriaen de Bie's works have survived. He painted in Rome small cabinet pieces, a type of painting for which there was a great demand in Rome at the beginning of the 17th century. It is possible that Adriaen de Bie's choice of support and size was influenced by

Adam Elsheimer __NOTOC__ Adam Elsheimer (18 March 1578 – 11 December 1610) was a German artist working in Rome, who died at only thirty-two, but was very influential in the early 17th century in the field of Baroque paintings. His relatively few paintin ...

who was successful in Rome with small cabinet pieces. De Bie was a painter of portraits, biblical scenes for churches and Italianate landscapes. He also painted on a large scale such as in his ''View of Campo Vaccino in Rome'' (

Victoria Art Gallery The Victoria Art Gallery is a public art museum in Bath, Somerset, England. It was opened in 1900 to commemorate Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee. It is a Grade II* listed building and houses over 1,500 objects of art including a collection of ...

, 1643). It shows a myriad of figures on the

Forum Romanum The Roman Forum, also known by its Latin name Forum Romanum ( it, Foro Romano), is a rectangular forum (plaza) surrounded by the ruins of several important ancient government buildings at the center of the city of Rome. Citizens of the ancient ...

.Erasmus de Bie (1593–1668), ''Campo Vaccino, Rome''
, Victoria Art Gallery, at the National Inventory of Continental European paintingsErasmus de Bie, ''Campo Vaccino, Rome''
on the Victoria Art Gallery site This type of work is likely indicative for a side-line he pursued during the three decades he spent in Lier after his return from Italy. The work is an Italianate landscape set among Roman buildings and populated with many figures and animals. The scene is reminiscent of the work of the group of genre painters active in Rome known as the ''

Bamboccianti The ''Bamboccianti'' were genre painters active in Rome from about 1625 until the end of the seventeenth century. Most were Dutch and Flemish artists who brought existing traditions of depicting peasant subjects from sixteenth-century Netherland ...

.'' The National Inventory of Continental European paintings records that there is an inscription on the front lower left of the painting reading 'ED · BIE - 1643', which is similar to the known signature of another Flemish painter called

Erasmus de Bie Erasmus de Bie (1629–1675) was a Flemish Baroque painter known for his city views and genre scenes.Erasmus de Bie
at ...

. However, it seems unlikely that Erasmus who was only 14 years old in 1643 and had not travelled outside Antwerp could have made a painting of this scale and scope. It is therefore more likely that it is the work of Adriaen de Bie. The work is attributed to Adriaen de Bie on the Art UK website and in various publications.Adriaen de Bie (1593–1668), ''Campo Vaccino, Rome''
Victoria Art Gallery, Art UKAs cited in the National Inventory of Continental European paintings record, the work is attributed to Adriaen de Bie in: Wright, C., Old Master Paintings in Britain: An Index of Continental Old Master Paintings executed before c.1800 in Public Collections in the United Kingdom, London, 1976 , p. 17; Sloman, S., Victoria Art Gallery: Concise Catalogue of Paintings and Drawings, Bath, 1991, p. 10; J. De Maere and M. Wabbes, Illustrated Dictionary of Flemish Painters, Brussels, 1994, p. 52.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bie, Adriaen de 1593 births 1668 deaths Flemish Baroque painters People from Lier, Belgium Flemish history painters