Pieter Bout - A Landscape with a Barge Being Towed along a Canal

Pieter Bout (between 1640 and 1658 – between 1689 and 1719) was a Flemish

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

, draughtsman and etcher. He is known mainly for his landscapes, city, coast and country views and architectural scenes painted in a style reminiscent of earlier Flemish masters such as

Jan Brueghel the Elder Jan Brueghel (also Bruegel or Breughel) the Elder (, ; ; 1568 – 13 January 1625) was a Flemish painter and draughtsman. He was the son of the eminent Flemish Renaissance painter Pieter Bruegel the Elder. A close friend and frequent collaborato ...

Life

Even while Pieter Bout was well known in his time as demonstrated by his frequent collaborations with prominent Flemish painters and his substantial output, the details of his life are not very well established. He was probably born in Brussels somewhere between 1640 and 1658. It is not known with whom he studied. He became a master in the Brussels

Guild of Saint Luke The Guild of Saint Luke was the most common name for a city guild for painters and other artists in early modern Europe, especially in the Low Countries. They were named in honor of the Evangelist Luke, the patron saint of artists, who was ide ...

in 1671 but his earliest work is dated 1664 and therefore predates his enrolment in the Guild. He got married on 30 November 1667 in Brussels.Pieter Bout
at the

Netherlands Institute for Art History 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 ...

Although primary sources do not confirm this, it is believed that from c. 1675 to 1677 Bout worked in Paris where he frequently collaborated with

Adriaen Frans Boudewyns Adriaen Frans Boudewijns (Brussels, 3 October 1644 – Brussels, 3 December 1719) was a Flemish landscape painter, draughtsman and etcher. He was known mainly for his landscapes with trees, Italianate landscapes with architecture, rivers and ...

, a Flemish painter residing in Paris at the time.Manfred Sellink. "Bout, Pieter." Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. Web. 28 January 2015 Bout returned to Brussels in 1677, where he married a second time on 9 August 1695. He remained active in Brussels for the rest of his career although he probably visited the

Dutch Republic The United Provinces of the Netherlands, also known as the (Seven) United Provinces, officially as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands (Dutch: ''Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Nederlanden''), and commonly referred to in historiography ...

and Italy. The date of his death is uncertain with some placing it as early as 1689 and others as late as 1719 (based on the date of a painting the dating of which has given rise to some doubt).

Work

Pieter Bout was a very prolific artist who worked in many genres. Most of his works include a landscape element and many are views of cities, villages, ports, beaches or rivers. His views are in the tradition of

. They also show similarity to the work of

David Teniers the Younger David Teniers the Younger or David Teniers II (bapt. 15 December 1610 – 25 April 1690) was a Flemish Baroque painter, printmaker, draughtsman, miniaturist painter, staffage painter, copyist and art curator. He was an extremely versatile arti ...

and the landscapes of Brussels landscape painters such as

Lucas Achtschellinck Lucas Achtschellinck (baptized 16 January 1626 – buried 12 May 1699), was a Flemish landscape painter. Lucas Achts ...

and

Jacques d'Arthois Jacques d'Arthois (12 October 1613 (baptised) – May 1686) was a Flemish painter and tapestry designer who specialized in wooded landscapes with figures. He often depicted the woods around his native Brussels.Nicolaes Berchem Nicolaes Pieterszoon Berchem (1 October 1620 – 18 February 1683) was a highly esteemed and prolific Dutch Golden Age painter of pastoral landscapes, populated with mythological or biblical figures, but also of a number of allegories and genre ...

. Some of his work is also similar to that of Pieter Casteels II, a Flemish painter known for his Italianizing landscapes and city views. His paintings often include lively scenes such as village festivals and people having fun on the ice. Pieter Bout collaborated on a beach view with Lucas Smout who painted the

staffage In painting, staffage () are the human and animal figures depicted in a scene, especially a landscape, that are not the primary subject matter of the work. Typically they are small, and there to add an indication of scale and add interest. Before ...

. This work referred to as '' Harbour and Fish Market'' ( Musée des beaux-arts de Quimper) possibly represents a view of the beach and port of Scheveningen as in its composition and figures it closely resembles Pieter Bout's '' Selling Fish at the Beach of Scheveningen'' (Van Ham Auctions, 11 May 2012, Lot 518). Bout-los patinadores

The

Rijksmuseum 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 St ...

attributes to Bout a religious painting entitled '' The Adoration of the Shepherds''.The Adoration of the Shepherds
at the Rijksmuseum His paintings are lively and the brushwork is precise. His palette is clear and soft and announces the 18th century.Pieter Bout
at the Prado Enciclopedia online Bout's drawings and etchings are similar to his paintings in style and subject matter.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bout, Pieter Flemish Baroque painters Flemish landscape painters Flemish history painters Flemish marine artists Flemish genre painters Artists from Brussels 1658 births Year of death unknown