Christiaen van Couwenbergh - The prodigal son

Christiaen van Couwenbergh, (8 July 1604 – 4 July 1667)Couwenbergh, Christiaen Gillisz. van
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 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, ...

painter.

Biography

Couwenbergh was born in

Delft Delft () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, Netherlands. It is located between Rotterdam, to the southeast, ...

. His father Gillis was a silversmith, engraver, and art dealer from

Mechelen Mechelen (; french: Malines ; traditional English name: MechlinMechelen has been known in English as ''Mechlin'', from where the adjective ''Mechlinian'' is derived. This name may still be used, especially in a traditional or historical contex ...

. Gillis had moved to Delft before 1604 where he married Adriaantje Vosmaer, the sister of the flower painter Jacob Vosmaer. Christiaen learned to paint from Johan van Nes,Kristiaen van Kouwenberch biography
in ''De groote schouburgh der Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen'' (1718) by

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 ...

, 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 ...

and then entered the

Guild of St. 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 Four Evangelists, Evangelist Saint Luke, Luke, the patron sa ...

in Delft in 1627. He then travelled back and forth to Italy. After his return, he settled in

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 of ...

where he joined the

Confrerie Pictura The Confrerie Pictura was a more or less academic club of artists founded in 1656 in The Hague (the Netherlands) by local art painters, who were unsatisfied by the Guild of Saint Luke there. History The guild of St. Luke in the Hague existed a ...

in 1647 and became deacon in 1649. He specialized in large historical allegories as wall decorations, often with life-sized nudes. He not only painted, but also produced drawings and designs for tapestries. His patrons were

Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange Frederick Henry ( nl, Frederik Hendrik; 29 January 1584 – 14 March 1647) was the sovereign prince of Orange and stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, Overijssel in the Dutch Republic from 1625 until his death in 1647. In the last ...

, among other royal admirers, for wall decorations at

Huis ter Nieuwburg Huis ter Nieuwburg or Huis ter Nieuburch ("House at New Borough") was a palace in Rijswijk, Holland, Dutch Republic. The Symmetry, symmetrical Dutch Palladianism, French Baroque and Classicism, French Classicist building was probably designed by t ...

Huis ten Bosch Huis ten Bosch ( nl, Paleis Huis ten Bosch, ; English: "House in the Woods") is a royal palace in The Hague, Netherlands. It is one of three official residences of the Dutch monarch; the two others being the Noordeinde Palace in The Hague and ...

and

Huis Honselaarsdijk Huis Honselaarsdijk is a former palace and country residence of the Dutch Stadtholders and princes of Orange which lies about 2.6 km (2 mi) southwest of the border of The Hague, the Netherlands. It was one of the finest examples of Baroque arch ...

. Queen

Christina of Sweden Christina ( sv, Kristina, 18 December ( New Style) 1626 – 19 April 1689), a member of the House of Vasa, was Queen of Sweden in her own right from 1632 until her abdication in 1654. She succeeded her father Gustavus Adolphus upon his death ...

purchased a series of tapestries designed by him. He later moved to Cologne between 1654-1656, where he later died. He is known for portraits and historical allegories and is judged to be one of those influenced by Caravaggio.

References

External links

Vermeer and The Delft School
a full text exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, which has material on Christiaen van Couwenbergh {{DEFAULTSORT:Couwenbergh, Christiaen van 1604 births 1667 deaths Dutch Golden Age painters Dutch male painters Artists from Delft Painters from Delft Painters from The Hague