Syvert Nicolaas Bastert (7 January 1854 – 18 April 1939), was a 19th-century Dutch landscape painter, best known for his scenes along the river Vecht. He is counted among the "second generation" of the Hague School.
Biography
Bastert was born into a prominent family on the estate Otterspoor to Maarseveen in
Maarssen
Maarssen () is a town in the middle of the Netherlands, in the province of Utrecht, along the river Vecht and the Amsterdam–Rhine Canal. The west of Maarssen is called Maarssen-BroekStatistics are taken from thSDU Staatscourant whereas the east ...
. At first he seemed destined for a career in marketing and worked in the office in the trading company of his father, Jacob Nicholas Bastert, in Amsterdam. He then turned to art and was admitted to the National Academy of Fine Arts in Amsterdam in 1876. He was a pupil of
August Allebé,
Marinus Heijl,
Petrus Josephus Lutgers, and
Charles Verlat at the
Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten in Amsterdam.
[Nicolaas Bastert]
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 ...
In the studio of Marinus Heijl he met the young painter
George Poggenbeek, with whom he would remain lifelong friends.
In 1878 Bastert, following a winter course at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, and met with Hein Kever and Theo Hanrath. He then traveled with Poggenbeek through Switzerland, Italy and France, a period Bastert would describe as "a great pleasure". He studied at the
Koninklijke Academie voor Schone Kunsten in Antwerp in 1879 and about the same time became a member of
Arti et Amicitiae in Amsterdam and the
Hollandsche Teekenmaatschappij The Hollandsche Teekenmaatschappij (''Dutch drawing society'') was an international art society founded in 1876 in The Hague. The purpose of the society was to promote watercolor painting as an art in itself, which until then had been known only as ...
. Between 1880 and 1882 he lived and worked with Poggenbeek in Amsterdam, in the studio of Poggenbeek at the City Gardens. Together they would often travel to a cottage in Breukelen in the next seven years to paint Dutch landscapes. There Bastert did many paintings near the river Vecht, both in Breukelen and Maarssen Nieuwersluis.
In 1882 Bastert had a private studio in The Hague. His style was strongly influenced by the painters of the Hague School. He soon attracted attention with his work. The art critic Jan Veth called him in May 1888 "The king of light". He wrote: " In the place where Bastert's paintings hang, there is a window through which one can behold all the glory of the Vecht." From 1885 it was regularly sold his work, which allowed him to develop his own style.
During his time in The Hague, Bastert often felt lonely. In 1885, therefore, he moved into a studio in the State Oosterpark in Amsterdam, next to that of Poggenbeek. Later, after his marriage to Eva Versteeg, he settled on the estate
Zwaanvecht te Nigtevecht. In the first decades of the twentieth century, he often painted in the picturesque village of Heeze.
Bastert won gold medals at exhibitions in Amsterdam, Munich and Paris. He was a member of the Academy of Fine Arts in Rotterdam, Arti et Amicitiae in Amsterdam and the Pulchri Studio in The Hague, where most of the Were members were in the Hague School. His pupils were
Constantia Arnolda Balwé,
Leo Kurpershoek,
Marie van Regteren Altena, and
Eva Emmelina Seelig.
[
Bastert died in 1939, at the age of 85, in ]Loenen aan de Vecht
Loenen aan de Vecht (or just Loenen) is a village in the Dutch province of Utrecht. It was the main village in the former municipality of Loenen. Since 2011 it has become part of the newly formed municipality of Stichtse Vecht. It lies about 10&nb ...
. In 1895 the Van Wisselingh firm of art dealers had a solo exhibition of Bastert's works and after his death they did the same for his later works.
Gallery
Image:Bastert Dorpsgezicht Loenen.jpg, Village Scene (Loenen)
Image:Bastert Fortgracht te Nieuwersluis.jpg, Fort Canal to Nieuwersluis
Image:Bastert Op het water bij Loenen.jpg, On the Water at Loenen
Image:Bastert Langs de Vecht.png, Along the Vecht
Image:Bastert Vechtlandschap.jpg, Vecht Landscape
Image:Bastert Veerpont aan de Vecht.jpg, Ferry on the Vecht
Image:Bastert Gezicht op Zierikzee.jpg, Scene on the Zierikzee
Image:Bastert De windmolen.jpg, The Windmill
Image:Bastert Heeze2.jpg, Farms in Heeze
Image:Bastert22.png, Illustration in the autograph album of Rudolf Hugo Driessen
References
Sources
Nicolaas Bastert
on Artnet
* Wiepke Loos, Watercolors of the Hague School: the collection Drucker-Fraser, Amsterdam (Rijksmuseum) and Zwolle (Waanders) 2002.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bastert, Nicolaas
1854 births
1939 deaths
People from Maarssen
19th-century Dutch painters
Dutch male painters
20th-century Dutch painters
19th-century Dutch male artists
20th-century Dutch male artists