Laurens Johannes Bol (23 January 1898, in

Ooltgensplaat Ooltgensplaat is a village in the Dutch province of South Holland. It is a part of the municipality of Goeree-Overflakkee, and lies about 17 km south of Spijkenisse. History The village was first mentioned in 1554 as Oitkensplate, and me ...

– 11 April 1994, in

Dordrecht Dordrecht (), historically known in English as Dordt (still colloquially used in Dutch, ) or Dort, is a city and municipality in the Western Netherlands, located in the province of South Holland. It is the province's fifth-largest city after R ...

) was an

art historian Art history is the study of aesthetic objects and visual expression in historical and stylistic context. Traditionally, the discipline of art history emphasized painting, drawing, sculpture, architecture, ceramics and decorative arts; yet today ...

who specialized in 17th-century

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, ...

painters.

Biography

He was a teacher in

Goeree-Overflakkee Goeree-Overflakkee () is the southernmost delta island of the province of South Holland, Netherlands. It is separated from Voorne-Putten and Hoeksche Waard by the Haringvliet, from the mainland of North Brabant by the Volkerak, and from Schouwen ...

. He later moved to

Middelburg Middelburg may refer to: Places and jurisdictions Europe * Middelburg, Zeeland, the capital city of the province of Zeeland, southwestern Netherlands ** Roman Catholic Diocese of Middelburg, a former Catholic diocese with its see in the Zeeland ...

in 1920, where he started researching artists in the local archives. In 1927 he married the painter Elizabeth Smit (1898-1994). He became an expert on Dutch masters from Middelburg and is credited with the "discovery" of

Adriaen Coorte Adriaen Coorte (ca. 1665 – after 1707) was a Dutch Golden Age painter of still lifes, who signed works between 1683 and 1707. He painted small and unpretentious still lifes in a style more typical of the first half of the century, and was "on ...

. Thanks to his work in Middelburg, valuable material was rescued for later generations. The Middelburg archives went up in flames during World War II. The research that Bol did on Coorte,

Ambrosius Bosschaert Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder (18 January 1573 – 1621) was a Flemish-born Dutch still life painter and art dealer.Balthasar van der Ast Balthasar van der Ast (1593/94 – 7 March 1657) was a Dutch Golden Age painter who specialized in still lifes of flowers and fruit, as well as painting a number of remarkable shell still lifes; he is considered to be a pioneer in the genre ...

and Jacob van Geel (ca. 1585–1638), saved them from obscurity. He became a regular visitor of the Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie, and was particularly interested in less popular Dutch masters. He wrote his first article in ''Oud Holland'' in 1949. In his thirty years as a resident of Middelburg, he wrote regularly for the '' NRC'' and ''Openbaar Kunstbezit''. He published books on lesser-known artists. Between 1949–1965 Laurence Bol was director of the

Dordrechts Museum Dordrechts Museum is an art museum in Dordrecht, Netherlands. The museum was founded in 1842 and has a collection of artists of the last 400 years. Paintings The museum has works of the following artists: Gallery File:Portrait of Cornelis van ...

. Although the museum had very little funding Bol made some exquisite exhibitions in his time. The museum became known for its collection of less well known artists.

Bibliography

* ''The Bosschaert dynasty: Painters of flowers and fruit'', F.Lewis, 1960 * ''

Jan van Eyck Jan van Eyck ( , ; – July 9, 1441) was a painter active in Bruges who was one of the early innovators of what became known as Early Netherlandish painting, and one of the most significant representatives of Early Northern Renaissance art. Ac ...

(Art series; no.23)'', Blandford P, 1965 * ''Die holländische Marinemalerei des 17. Jahrhunderts.'', Braunschweig, 1973 * * * * *

References

Overview of publications

Bol in the personen encyclopedia

Books by Bol
on

Google books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical c ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bol, Laurens J. 1898 births 1994 deaths Dutch art historians People from Middelburg, Zeeland People from Oostflakkee Directors of museums in the Netherlands