Frans Hals - Theodorus Schrevelius (1617)

Theodorus Schrevelius (25 July 1572 – 2 December 1649) was a

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, ...

writer and poet.

Biography

He was born in

Haarlem Haarlem (; predecessor of ''Harlem'' in English) is a city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of North Holland. Haarlem is situated at the northern edge of the Randstad, one of the most populated metropoli ...

, and in 1591 went to study Greek and Latin at the

University of Leiden Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; nl, Universiteit Leiden) is a public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. The university was founded as a Protestant university in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange, as a reward to the city of Le ...

. He became the assistant director of the

Latin school The Latin school was the grammar school of 14th- to 19th-century Europe, though the latter term was much more common in England. Emphasis was placed, as the name indicates, on learning to use Latin. The education given at Latin schools gave gre ...

in Haarlem in 1597, where he also started work on translating

Ovid Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the th ...

. He was friends with the Mannerist artist group led by

Karel van Mander Karel van Mander (I) or Carel van Mander I (May 1548 – 2 September 1606) was a Flemish painter, poet, art historian and art theoretician, who established himself in the Dutch Republic in the latter part of his life. He is mainly remembe ...

, who himself translated Ovid's

Metamorphoses The ''Metamorphoses'' ( la, Metamorphōsēs, from grc, μεταμορφώσεις: "Transformations") is a Latin narrative poem from 8 CE by the Roman poet Ovid. It is considered his ''magnum opus''. The poem chronicles the history of the wo ...

in 1604. Schrevelius married Maria van Teylingen (1570-1652) in Alkmaar in 1599 and had seven children, including sons Augustinus Schrevelius, attorney at the Hof van Holland (High Court of Holland and Zeeland) and Cornelius Schrevelius, who later succeeded him as director of the Leiden school.Schrevelius biography
at the website of the

Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences ( nl, Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, abbreviated: KNAW) is an organization dedicated to the advancement of science and literature in the Netherlands. The academy is housed ...

In 1609, he succeeded Cornelis Schonaeus as director of the Haarlem Latin School, but in 1620 he was dismissed for his

Remonstrant The Remonstrants (or the Remonstrant Brotherhood) is a Protestant movement that had split from the Dutch Reformed Church in the early 17th century. The early Remonstrants supported Jacobus Arminius, and after his death, continued to maintain his ...

ideas. He fled to Leiden with other Haarlem Remonstrant supporters and from 1625 to 1642 he was director of the Latin school in Leiden (where

Rembrandt 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 ...

had received his early education from ca. 1615–1620). In 1642, after handing his position over to his son Cornelis, he returned to Haarlem where he devoted himself to writing about Haarlem in his ''Harlemum'' (1647) and ''Harlemias'' (1648). He died in 1649 and was buried in the St. Bavochurch in the Brewer's chapel.

Works

*Translation of

Tristia The ''Tristia'' ("Sorrows" or "Lamentations") is a collection of letters written in elegiac couplets by the Augustan poet Ovid during his exile from Rome. Despite five books of his copious bewailing of his fate, the immediate cause of Augustus ...

''Tristium'' (1612) *''Diatribae scholasticae'' (1626) *Staten edition of the three books of

Homer Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...

Iliad The ''Iliad'' (; grc, Ἰλιάς, Iliás, ; "a poem about Ilium") is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the ''Odysse ...

in 1636 *
Harlemias
', 1648, in

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 ...

History of Haarlem

He is best known today for his ''Harlemias'', or history of Haarlem, which was first published 20 years after his colleague Samuel Ampzing published his poetic history of Haarlem in verse form called ''Beschrijvinge ende lof der stad Haerlem in Holland''. In this book, Schrevelius includes biographical sketches of many local artists that

Arnold Houbraken Arnold Houbraken (28 March 1660 – 14 October 1719) was a Dutch painter and writer from Dordrecht, now remembered mainly as a biographer of Dutch Golden Age painters. Life Houbraken was sent first to learn ''threadtwisting'' (Twyndraat) fr ...

later used for his ''Schouburg''. The list of painters Houbraken included (Schrevelius listed many more) were

Johannes Torrentius Johannes (Jan) Symonsz van der Beeck (1589 – buried 17 February 1644) was a Dutch painter also known by his Pseudonym, alias Johannes Torrentius. ("Torrentius" is a Latin language, Latin equivalent of the surname van der Beeck, meaning "of the ...

Pieter de Grebber Pieter Fransz de Grebber (c.1600–1652/3Between September 24, 1652, and January 29, 1653) was a Dutch Golden Age painter. Life De Grebber was born in Haarlem, the oldest son of Frans Pietersz de Grebber (1573–1643), a painter and embr ...

Frans Pietersz de Grebber Frans Pietersz de Grebber (1573 – c. 1649) was a Dutch Golden Age painter. Life and career Frans Pietersz de Grebber was born and died in Haarlem. He belonged to the ancient De Grebber family originally from Waterland, and was the son of ...

Maria de Grebber Maria de Grebber (1602, Haarlem – 1680, Enkhuizen), was a Dutch Golden Age painter. Grebber was talented at depicting buildings and perspective.Gerard Sprong,

Hendrik Gerritsz Pot Hendrik Gerritsz Pot (c. 1580 – 15 October 1657 (buried)) was a Dutch Golden Age painter, who lived and painted in Haarlem, where he was an officer of the militia, or ''schutterij''. Dutch artist Frans Hals painted Pot in militia sash in ...

Cornelis Claesz van Wieringen Cornelis Claesz van Wieringen (c. 1576 – 29 December 1633) was a Dutch Golden Age painter. Biography Van Wieringen was born and died in Haarlem. He was the son of a Haarlem captain, and drew, painted and etched with his friends Hendrick ...

Cornelis Verbeeck Cornelis Verbeeck (1585/1591 – after 1637), also known as Cornelis Verbeecq, was a Dutch Golden Age painter from Haarlem. Biography He is first mentioned along with Hans Goderis in the book ''Harlemias'' by Theodorus Schrevelius as choosing m ...

Hans Goderis Hans Goderis (1595/1600, Haarlem – 1656/1659, Haarlem) was a Dutch Golden Age painter. Biography Goderis was the son of Joris Goderis and Marijntgen Lijbaerts. He is first mentioned along with Cornelis Verbeeck in the book ''Harlemias'' ...

Cornelis Vroom Cornelis Hendriksz Vroom (1591, Haarlem - buried 16 September 1661, Haarlem) was a Dutch Golden Age landscape painter. Biography According to the Netherlands Institute for Art History, he was the son of the painter Hendrick Cornelisz Vroom, the ...

, son of Hendrik Vroom, Joh. Jakobsz. who spent many years in Italy, Nicolas Zuyker,

Gerrit Claesz Bleker Gerrit Claesz Bleker (1592, Haarlem – February 8, 1656, Haarlem), was a Dutch Golden Age painter. Biography According to Houbraken in 1718, who repeated a list of names from Theodorus Schrevelius's 1648 book on Haarlem called ''Harlemias' ...

Salomon van Ruysdael Salomon van Ruysdael (c. 1602, Naarden – buried 3 November 1670, Haarlem) was a Dutch Golden Age landscape painter. He was the uncle of Jacob van Ruisdael.

Reyer van Blommendael Reyer Jacobsz van Blommendael (27 June 1628 (baptised) – 23 November 1675) was a Dutch Golden Age painter from Haarlem. Biography He entered the Haarlem Guild of that city in 1662, and was buried in the St. Bavochurch there where later hi ...

Floris van Dyck Floris van Dyck, also called Floris van Dijck or Floris Claesz. van Dyck (c.1575 – before 26 April 1651) was a Dutch Golden Age still life painter. Biography van Dyck lived in Haarlem for most of his life, but he was born in Delft. He was a ...

, Willem Heda, Roeland van Laer,

Pieter van Laer Pieter Bodding van Laer (christened 14 December 1599, Haarlem – 1641 or later) was a Dutch painter and printmaker. He was active in Rome for over a decade and was known for genre scenes, animal paintings and landscapes placed in the environs ...

, Pieter Holsteyn, and Jan Philipsz van Bouckhorst.Johan Torrentius biography
in ''De groote schouburgh der Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen'' (1718) by

, courtesy of the

Digital library for Dutch literature The Digital Library for Dutch Literature (Dutch: Digitale Bibliotheek voor de Nederlandse Letteren or DBNL) is a website (showing the abbreviation as dbnl) about Dutch language and Dutch literature. It contains thousands of literary texts, second ...

Trivia

In his ''Harlemias'', Schrevelius claimed that the art of printing, itself the ''keeper of all science'', was invented in Haarlem in 1440 by

Laurens Janszoon Coster Laurens Janszoon Coster (c. 1370, Haarlem – c. 1440), or Laurens Jansz Koster, is the purported inventor of a printing press from Haarlem. He allegedly invented printing simultaneously with Johannes Gutenberg and was regarded by some in t ...

.''Harlemias'', p 356-359 The street ''Schreveliusstraat'' in

is named after him.

References

External links

Dutch Humanists, art. 'Schrevelius, Theodorus (1572-1649)'

Portret van Theodorus Schrevelius, 1617 - Haarlem, Frans Hals Museum

Engraving of Schrevelius
aged 46 by

Jacob Matham Jacob Matham (15 October 1571 – 20 January 1631), of Haarlem, was a famous engraver and pen-draftsman. Biography He was the stepson and pupil of painter and draftsman Hendrik Goltzius, and brother-in-law to engraver Simon van Poelenburgh, havi ...

in 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 ...

''Harlemias'' edition II from 1754 op Google Books
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schrevelius, Theodorus 1572 births 1649 deaths Remonstrants Arminian writers Dutch Renaissance humanists Dutch Golden Age writers Writers from Haarlem Latin–Dutch translators Dutch art historians Frans Hals Leiden University alumni