Pieter Quast Soldiers Gambling with Dice

Pieter Jansz. Quast (1605 or '06 – buried 29 May 1647) was a

Dutch Golden Age painter Dutch Golden Age painting is the painting of the Dutch Golden Age, a period in Dutch history roughly spanning the 17th century, during and after the later part of the Eighty Years' War (1568–1648) for Dutch independence. The new Dutch Republi ...

and draughtsman, mostly producing small social

genre painting Genre painting (or petit genre), a form of genre art, depicts aspects of everyday life by portraying ordinary people engaged in common activities. One common definition of a genre scene is that it shows figures to whom no identity can be attache ...

s, ranging from elegant merry companies to guardroom scenes and (most numerous) groups of peasants, in a variety of styles which can be related to those of leading artists in these genres, but with personal aspects in the colouring and style. They "are heavily and powerfully rendered in warm shades of brown, set off by strong local colouring in the principal figures. His successful peasant scenes are characterized by the use of strong chiaroscuro and a gentle, harmonious palette. The caricatural quality of Quast’s peasants recalls the work of his fellow-resident of The Hague,

Adriaen van de Venne Adriaen Pietersz van de Venne (1589 – 12 November 1662), was a versatile Dutch Golden Age painter of allegories, genre subjects, and portraits, as well as a miniaturist, book illustrator, designer of political satires, and versifier. Biog ...

, but Quast’s looser style and many of his individual types are closer to the paintings of Adriaen Brouwer, as well as of

Adriaen van Ostade Adriaen van Ostade (baptized as Adriaen Jansz Hendricx 10 December 1610 – buried 2 May 1685) was a Dutch Golden Age painter of genre works, showing everyday life of ordinary men and women. Life According to Arnold Houbraken, he and his bro ...

, to whom Quast’s best work has sometimes been ascribed".Leistra He also produced finished drawings for sale, often on

parchment Parchment is a writing material made from specially prepared untanned skins of animals—primarily sheep, calves, and goats. It has been used as a writing medium for over two millennia. Vellum is a finer quality parchment made from the skins ...

, and these included landscapes and cityscapes. Some of his works were engraved, though it is not clear if he did this himself. Quast was probably born and certainly died in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

, but from 1634 to 1641 he lived at

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...

,Quast, Pieter at 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 ...

databases where he was admitted to the local

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 iden ...

in 1634. His pupil was Jan Jansz Buesem. He died in poverty, like many artists of the period.

Notes

References

* Leistra, J. E. P., "Quast, Pieter" in ''

Grove Art Online ''Grove Art Online'' is the online edition of ''The Dictionary of Art'', often referred to as the ''Grove Dictionary of Art'', and part of Oxford Art Online, an internet gateway to online art reference publications of Oxford University Press, ...

'', Oxford Art Online, Oxford University Press
accessed 16 Oct. 2013

External links

Gallery of worksBiography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Quast, Pieter 1606 births 1647 deaths Dutch Golden Age painters Dutch male painters Engravers from Amsterdam Painters from Amsterdam Dutch Golden Age printmakers 17th-century engravers