Govert Flinck by Gerard Pietersz van Zijl and Abraham Blooteling with poem by Joost van den Vondel

Gerrit or Gerard Pietersz van Zijl, also van Zyl / Zyll or Geerards (c.1607,

Leiden Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration wit ...

– 19 December 1665,

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

) was a

Dutch Golden Age The Dutch Golden Age ( nl, Gouden Eeuw ) was a period in the history of the Netherlands, roughly spanning the era from 1588 (the birth of the Dutch Republic) to 1672 (the Rampjaar, "Disaster Year"), in which Dutch trade, science, and Dutch art, ...

painter of

portrait A portrait is a portrait painting, painting, portrait photography, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expressions are predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, Personality type ...

s and

genre scenes Genre art is the pictorial representation in any of various media of scenes or events from everyday life, such as markets, domestic settings, interiors, parties, inn scenes, work, and street scenes. Such representations (also called genre works, ...

.Gerard Pietersz. van Zijl
in the

RKD 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 ...

Biography

He is the best-known member of a family of painters active in the 16th and 17th centuries during the

. A pupil of

Jacob Pynas Jacob (; ; ar, يَعْقُوب, Yaʿqūb; gr, Ἰακώβ, Iakṓb), later given the name Israel, is regarded as a patriarch of the Israelites and is an important figure in Abrahamic religions, such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Ja ...

in Amsterdam, he worked in London from 1639 to 1641, where he was a friend of

Anthony van Dyck Sir Anthony van Dyck (, many variant spellings; 22 March 1599 – 9 December 1641) was a Brabantian Flemish Baroque artist who became the leading court painter in England after success in the Southern Netherlands and Italy. The seventh c ...

. His portraits were popular in his own lifetime, and according to Houbraken's biography of

Jan Verkolje Jan Verkolje or Johannes Verkolje (9 February 1650 (baptized) – 8 May 1693 (buried)) was a Dutch painter, draughtsman and engraver. He is mainly known for his portraits and genre pieces of elegant couples in interiors and, to a lesser extent, ...

, he was an inspiration to aspiring portrait painters. He painted a now-lost portrait of Govert Flinck which

Abraham Blooteling Abraham Blooteling (or Bloteling) (1634–1690) was a Dutch designer and engraver. Life He was born at Amsterdam. From the style of his etchings it is likely that he was a pupil of the Visschers. Following the French incursions into the Netherl ...

made into a print.

References

A group portrait of a family in an elegant interior
sold lot at

Christie's Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie (auctioneer), James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, at Rockefeller Center in New York City and at Alexandra House in Hong Kong. It is ...

1607 births 1665 deaths Dutch Golden Age painters Dutch male painters Painters from Leiden {{Netherlands-artist-stub