Nicolaes Eliaszoon Pickenoy (10 January 1588 – 1653/1656) was a Dutch painter of
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; ...
origin. Pickenoy was possibly a pupil of
Cornelis van der Voort
Cornelis van der Voort or van der Voorde (1576 – buried on 2 November 1624) was a Dutch Golden Age portrait painter from the early 17th century.
Life
Very little is known about Van der Voort's early life. He was born in Antwerp; his father w ...
and presumably
Bartholomeus van der Helst
Bartholomeus van der Helst (1613 – buried 16 December 1670) was a Dutch painter. Considered to be one of the leading portrait painters of the Dutch Golden Age, his elegant portraits gained him the patronage of Amsterdam's elite as well as t ...
was his own pupil.
Life
He was the son of the
Antwerp
Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504, monumental mason Elias Claeszoon Pickenoy (1565–1640) and Heijltje Laurens s'Jonge (1562–1638), who emigrated to
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 ...
before Nicolaes Pickenoy was born. In 1621, living near the
Oude Kerk, he married Levijntje Bouwens (1599-na 1656), an orphan of 21 years. They had ten children: Sara and Elias died young.
Pickenoy painted large
Schuttersstukken, group portraits of the
regents
A regent (from Latin : ruling, governing) is a person appointed to govern a state '' pro tempore'' (Latin: 'for the time being') because the monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy ...
of the orphanage, and individual portraits of local or national celebrities like
Nicolaes Tulp
Nicolaes Tulp (9 October 1593 – 12 September 1674) was a Dutch surgeon and mayor of Amsterdam. Tulp was well known for his upstanding moral character and as the subject of Rembrandt's famous painting ''The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp'' ...
,
Cornelis de Graeff
Cornelis de Graeff, also Cornelis de Graeff van (Zuid-)Polsbroek (15 October 1599 – 4 May 1664) was the most illustrious member of the De Graeff family. He was a mayor of Amsterdam from the Dutch Golden Age and a powerful Amsterdam regent after ...
,
Maarten Tromp
Maarten Harpertszoon Tromp (also written as ''Maerten Tromp''; 23 April 1598 – 31 July 1653) was a Dutch army general and admiral in the Dutch navy.
Son of a ship's captain, Tromp spent much of his childhood at sea, including being captured ...
and
Jochem Swartenhont
Jochem Hendrickszoon Swartenhont (1566 – 5 June 1627) was a Dutch naval officer in the navy of the Dutch Republic from the 17th century.
Swartenhondt was born in Amsterdam, and started his career with the merchant fleet, becoming a cabin bo ...
,
Elisabeth Bas's husband. The earliest picture ascribed to the artist is "Dr. Sebastiaen Egbertz de Vrij's Osteological Presentation" of 1619, now in Amsterdam Historisch Museum. His heyday was ca. 1630–1637, a period marked by a high artistic level and numerous commissions from prominent patrons. After 1637 he painted little, save for a number of prestigious—and lucrative—group portraits. Besides portraits, he also painted a small number of biblical subjects, one of which can be seen in the
Museum Catharijneconvent
The Museum Catharijneconvent (St. Catherine's Convent Museum) is a museum of religious art in Utrecht, Netherlands. It is located in the former St. Catharine convent, having been sited there since 1979. Its collections include many artifacts fro ...
. The
Rijksmuseum Amsterdam
The Rijksmuseum () is the national museum of the Netherlands dedicated to Dutch arts and history and is located in Amsterdam. The museum is located at the Museum Square in the borough of Amsterdam South, close to the Van Gogh Museum, the Ste ...
and
Amsterdams Historisch Museum
The Amsterdam Museum, known until 2010 as the Amsterdam Historical Museum, is an Amsterdam-based museum dedicated to the city's past and present. Due to the renovation of its main location, the museum is temporarily located in the building the Amst ...
hold many of his best works, not least the Schutterstukken or militia paintings.
In 1637 he bought from
Adriaen Pauw
Adriaan Pauw, knight, '' heer van Heemstede, Bennebroek, Nieuwerkerk etc.'' (1 November 1585 – 21 February 1653) was Grand Pensionary of Holland from 1631 to 1636 and from 1651 to 1653.
Life
He was born in Amsterdam in a rich merchant family; ...
the house on the corner of Sint Anthoniessluis and Jodenbreestraat, a fashionable area with many painters, art dealers, jewellers and so on. The house had previously been owned by his supposed master,
Cornelis van der Voort
Cornelis van der Voort or van der Voorde (1576 – buried on 2 November 1624) was a Dutch Golden Age portrait painter from the early 17th century.
Life
Very little is known about Van der Voort's early life. He was born in Antwerp; his father w ...
, and later by
Hendrick van Uylenburgh
Hendrick Gerritszoon van Uylenburgh (c. 1587 – 1661) was an influential Dutch Golden Age art dealer who helped launch the careers of Rembrandt, Govert Flinck, Ferdinand Bol and other painters.
Biography
Van Uylenburgh came from a Frisian fam ...
. During the years 1631–1634 the latter was collaborating with
Rembrandt van Rijn
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (, ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), usually simply known as Rembrandt, was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker and draughtsman. An innovative and prolific master in three media, he is generally consid ...
, who painted numerous portraits for Van Uylenburgh's art business. Thus the house Pickenoy purchased had been a centre of Amsterdam portraiture for decades. In 1639 Rembrandt returned to the neighbourhood as he bought the house next to Pickenoys, the present day
Rembrandthuis
The Rembrandt House Museum ( nl, Museum Het Rembrandthuis) is a museum located in a former house in the Jodenbreestraat, in the center of Amsterdam. Between 1639 and 1658, the house was occupied by the well-known Dutch painter Rembrandt van Rijn ...
. Rembrandt could leave his house via an exit onto the Zwanenburgwal under the house of his neighbor Pickenoy. He brought out ''
Night Watch''—painted in his courtyard—rolled up through the tunnel. Like Rembrandt, Pickenoy was not able to bring up the loan and so after eight years he sold the house.
The work of Pickenoy is difficult to distinguish from that of some of his contemporaries. Typical of Pickenoy are the fiercely invading light that makes the heads stand out sharply, the somewhat exaggerated gestures, the large greenish brown shadows and the odd-shaped eyes.
External links
RKD Artist's entry on Pickenoy, with link to numerous imagesWorks and literature on Nicolaes Eliasz. Pickenoy
Sources
* Oosthoek's Geïllustreerde Encyclopaedie (1917)
* Dudok van Heel, S.A.C. (1985) De schilder Nicolaes Eliasz. Pickenoy en zijn familie; Liber Amicorum voor Jhr M.C.C. van Valkenburg, pp. 152–60.
* Kaaring, David Burmeister: "Nicolaes Eliasz Pickenoy (1588-1650/56) and Portraiture in Amsterdam around 1620-45", in: ''SMK Art Journal 2005'', 127-13
(For illustrations see: "Nicolaes Eliasz Pickenoy (1588-1650/56) og den amsterdamske portrætkunst, ca. 1620-45", ''SMK Art Journal 2005'', 60–8
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pickenoy, Nicolaes Eliasz
Dutch Golden Age painters
Dutch male painters
1588 births
1650s deaths
Painters from Amsterdam