Hendrik Verschuring 1627 - Gorinchem - 1690 - Dordrecht

Hendrik Verschuring (1627–1690) was a Dutch Golden Age landscape painter from

Gorinchem Gorinchem ( or ), also spelled Gorkum, is a city and municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. The municipality covers an area of of which is water. It had a population of in . The municipality of Gorinchem al ...

who often decorated his landscapes with soldiers on horseback.

Biography

His father was a ''hopman'', which is a Dutch term for a flag bearer of a

schutterij Schutterij () refers to a voluntary city guard or citizen militia in the medieval and early modern Netherlands, intended to protect the town or city from attack and act in case of revolt or fire. Their training grounds were often on open spaces w ...

. When his son seemed to have more interest in art than in military matters, he was sent to learn drawing from a portrait painter, Dirck Govertsz, at the young age of eight.Hendrik Verschuring biography
in ''De groote schouburgh der Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen'' (1718) by Arnold Houbraken, courtesy of the

Digital library for Dutch literature The Digital Library for Dutch Literature (Dutch: Digitale Bibliotheek voor de Nederlandse Letteren or DBNL) is a website (showing the abbreviation as dbnl) about Dutch language and Dutch literature. It contains thousands of literary texts, second ...

At thirteen he became the pupil of

Jan Both Jan Dirksz Both (between 1610 and 1618 - August 9, 1652) was a Dutch painter, draughtsman, and etcher, who made an important contribution to the development of Dutch Italianate landscape painting. Biography Both was born in Utrecht, and was ...

where he stayed six years, until he left Utrecht for a trip to Rome. He made drawings of all the places he stayed, especially new buildings or items of interest. His work was in demand in Venice, so he stayed in Italy for ten years. On his return journey in Paris, he met Joan Huydecoper, the son of the Mayor (burgermeester) of Maarseveen, who was on his

Grand Tour The Grand Tour was the principally 17th- to early 19th-century custom of a traditional trip through Europe, with Italy as a key destination, undertaken by upper-class young European men of sufficient means and rank (typically accompanied by a tut ...

to Italy and who persuaded him to be his guide. He again spent three more years in Italy and returned finally to Gorinchem in 1662, where he continued to paint soldiers on horseback in natural landscapes. According to the RKD he was the teacher of his son Willem Verschuring and

Mattheus Wijtmans Mattheus Wijtmans was a Brabantian painter, born in Den Bosch. (or ''Mathijs/Mathys Whytmans''). He lived for 10 years (1640-1650) in Gorinchem and died in 1689, Utrecht?) was a Dutch Golden Age painter. Biography Wytmans was a student of the ...

, and became a member of the Gorinchem city council in 1672.Hendrik Verschuring
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 ...

Works

* Paintings by Verschuring in the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...

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* ''Cavalry attacking a Fortified Place'', 1677, National Gallery, Londonbr>
* ''The Dogcart'',

Museum Bredius Museum Bredius is a museum named after Abraham Bredius on the Lange Vijverberg in The Hague. It is remarkable for its collection of etchings and paintings, but is most attractive to visitors for its accurate restoration of the 18th-century ''Heren ...

, The Hagu

* ''The Forecourt: Figures and Horses by Town Gate'', Mercer Art Galler

* ''Fight for the flag'', Dorotheum

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Verschuring, Hendrik Dutch Golden Age painters Dutch male painters 1627 births 1690 deaths Dutch landscape painters People from Gorinchem