Pieter Lastman - The Angel Raphael Takes Leave of Old Tobit and his Son Tobias - Google Art Project

Pieter Lastman (1583–1633) was a

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

painter. Lastman is considered important because of his work as a painter of history pieces and because his pupils included

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 cons ...

and

Jan Lievens Jan Lievens (24 October 1607 – 4 June 1674) was a Dutch Golden Age painter who was associated with his close contemporary Rembrandt, a year older, in the early parts of their careers. They shared a birthplace in Leiden, training with Pieter La ...

. In his paintings Lastman paid careful attention to the faces, hands and feet.

Early life

Pieter Lastman was born 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 ...

. He was the fourth child of Pieter Segersz, (1548-1624), a town-beadle who was dismissed in 1578 for being a Catholic. His mother, Barber Jacobsdr, (1549-1624) was an appraiser of paintings and goods.

Education and Italy

His apprenticeship was with Gerrit Pietersz Sweelinck, the brother of

Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck ( ; April or May, 1562 – 16 October 1621) was a Dutch composer, organist, and pedagogue whose work straddled the end of the Renaissance and beginning of the Baroque eras. He was among the first major keyboard compo ...

. Between approximately 1604 and 1607 Lastman was in Italy, where he was influenced by

Caravaggio Michelangelo Merisi (Michele Angelo Merigi or Amerighi) da Caravaggio, known as simply Caravaggio (, , ; 29 September 1571 – 18 July 1610), was an Italian painter active in Rome for most of his artistic life. During the final four years of h ...

(as were the painters of the

Utrecht School Utrecht Caravaggism ( nl, Utrechtse caravaggisten) refers to the work of a group of artists who were from, or had studied in, the Dutch city of Utrecht, and during their stay in Rome during the early seventeenth century had become distinctly infl ...

a few years later) and by

Adam Elsheimer __NOTOC__ Adam Elsheimer (18 March 1578 – 11 December 1610) was a German artist working in Rome, who died at only thirty-two, but was very influential in the early 17th century in the field of Baroque paintings. His relatively few paintin ...

Back in Amsterdam

Back in Amsterdam he moved in with his mother in the

Sint Antoniesbreestraat The Sint Antoniesbreestraat ("St. Anthony's Broad Street") is a street in the centre of Amsterdam in the Netherlands. The street runs south from Nieuwmarkt square to the Sint Antoniesluis sluice gates, where it continues as the Jodenbreestraat. ...

, living next to mayor Geurt van Beuningen. Lastman never married although he promised to marry the sister of

Gerbrand Adriaensz Bredero Gerbrand Adriaenszoon Bredero (16 March 1585 – 23 August 1618) was a Dutch poet and playwright in the period known as the Dutch Golden Age. Life Gerbrand Adriaenszoon Bredero was born on 16 March 1585 in Amsterdam in the Dutch Republic, ...

. Because of his health Lastman moved in with his brother in 1632.

Death

He died the next year after moving in with his brother, and was buried in the Oude Kerk on 4 April 1633.

Students

Because Rembrandt never visited Italy, it is likely that he was influenced by Caravaggio (see e.g.

chiaroscuro Chiaroscuro ( , ; ), in art, is the use of strong contrasts between light and dark, usually bold contrasts affecting a whole composition. It is also a technical term used by artists and art historians for the use of contrasts of light to achi ...

) mainly or significantly via Lastman. His pupils besides Rembrandt and Lievens were

Bartholomeus Breenbergh Bartholomeus Breenbergh (before 13 November 1598 – after 3 October 1657) was a Dutch Golden Age painter of Italian and Italianate landscapes, in Rome (1619-1630) and Amsterdam (1630-1657). Biography Little is known of his early life. In his ...

, Nicolaes Lastman,

Pieter Pieterz Nedek Pieter is a male given name, the Dutch form of Peter. The name has been one of the most common names in the Netherlands for centuries, but since the mid-twentieth century its popularity has dropped steadily, from almost 3000 per year in 1947 t ...

and

Jan Albertsz Rotius Jan Albertsz. Rotius (20 October 1624 – 1 November 1666 (buried)) was a Dutch Republic, Dutch painter known for his individual and group portraits, breakfast still lifes, kitchen still lifes and fruit still lifes. He was active in Hoorn an ...

.Pieter Lastman
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 ...

Rembrandt used many of the same themes as Lastman. Among his most famous works his rendition of the Stoning of Saint Stephen, The Baptism of the Eunuch, and Sacrifice of Abraham appear to be very influenced by Lastman. It is even possible that as an apprentice, Rembrandt may have done the preliminary sketches for each of these works by Lastman.

Gallery

File:Wedding Night of Tobias and Sarah - MFA, Boston SC239460.jpg, ''Wedding Night of Tobias and Sarah'', 1611,

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston The Museum of Fine Arts (often abbreviated as MFA Boston or MFA) is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the 20th-largest art museum in the world, measured by public gallery area. It contains 8,161 paintings and more than 450,000 works ...

File:Pieter Pietersz. Lastman 001.jpg, ''

Hagar Hagar, of uncertain origin; ar, هَاجَر, Hājar; grc, Ἁγάρ, Hagár; la, Agar is a biblical woman. According to the Book of Genesis, she was an Egyptian slave, a handmaiden of Sarah (then known as ''Sarai''), whom Sarah gave to ...

's Farewell'' 1612,

Hamburger Kunsthalle The Hamburger Kunsthalle is the art museum of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, Germany. It is one of the largest art museums in the country. The museum consists of three connected buildings, dating from 1869 (main building), 1921 (Kuppelsaa ...

File:'The Resurrection' by Pieter Lastman, 1612, Getty Center.JPG, ''Resurrection'' 1612,

Getty Center The Getty Center, in Los Angeles, California, is a campus of the Getty Museum and other programs of the Getty Trust. The $1.3 billion center opened to the public on December 16, 1997 and is well known for its architecture, gardens, and views overl ...

File:Juno Discovering Jupiter with Io by Pieter Lastman.jpg, ''Juno Discovering Jupiter with Io'', 1618,

National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director ...

File:Pieter Lastman - De offerstrijd tussen Orestes en Pylades - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Orestes and Pylades Disputing at the Altar'', 1614,

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 ...

File:Pieter Lastman - Jonah and the Whale - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Jonah and the Whale'', 1621,

Museum Kunstpalast The Kunstpalast, formerly Kunstmuseum Düsseldorf is an art museum in Düsseldorf. History The roots of the museum go back around 300 years. In 1932, the collection of the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf (Academy of Art) was housed in the Kunstmus ...

File:Pieter Pietersz. Lastman - The Triumph of Mordechai.jpg, ''The Triumph of Mordechai'', 1624, Rembrandt House Museum File:Pieter Lastman - Tobias vangt de vis.jpg, ''The Angel and

Tobias Tobias is the transliteration of the Greek which is a translation of the Hebrew biblical name he, טוֹבִיה, Toviyah, JahGod is good, label=none. With the biblical Book of Tobias being present in the Deuterocanon/Apocrypha of the Bible ...

with the Fish'' 1625, Gemeentelijk Museum Het Princessehof-Leeuwarden File:The Baptism of the Eunuch, Pieter Lastman, 1623, oil on panel, 85 by 115 cm, Staatliche Kunsthalle, Karlsruhe.jpg, Baptism of the Eunuch (1623) File:Die Steinigung des heiligen Stephanus, nach Pieter Lastman, schwarze Kreide, 29,5 x 36,4 cm, 1630 bis 1640, Kupferstichkabinett, Berlin.jpg, Stoning of Saint Stephen - Drawing

References

Additional sources

* Murray, P. & L. (1997). ''Penguin Dictionary of Art and Artists'' (7th edition), p. 287, 436–438. London: Penguin Books. .

External links

Artcyclopedia on Pieter LastmanThe Rijksmuseum on Pieter LastmanWorks and literature on Pieter Lastman
at PubHist
Dutch and Flemish paintings from the Hermitage
an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on Lastman (cat. no. 17) {{DEFAULTSORT:Lastman, Pieter 1583 births 1633 deaths Dutch Golden Age painters Dutch male painters Painters from Amsterdam Burials at the Oude Kerk, Amsterdam