David Bailly (1584–1657) was a
Dutch Golden Age artist known for his still-life paintings, portraits, and self-portraits.
Biography
David Bailly was born in 1584 in
Leiden
Leiden ( ; ; in English language, English and Archaism, archaic Dutch language, Dutch also Leyden) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Nethe ...
in the
Dutch Republic
The United Provinces of the Netherlands, commonly referred to in historiography as the Dutch Republic, was a confederation that existed from 1579 until the Batavian Revolution in 1795. It was a predecessor state of the present-day Netherlands ...
. The son of a
Flemish immigrant, calligrapher, and fencing master, Peter Bailly, David studied with his father and artist
Jacques de Gheyn II.
Bailly apprenticed with a surgeon-painter
Adriaan Verburg in Leiden and then with
Cornelius van der Voort, a portrait painter in
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...
. According to artist and biographer
Arnold Houbraken, in the winter of 1608 Bailly traveled to
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...
,
Nuremberg
Nuremberg (, ; ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the Franconia#Towns and cities, largest city in Franconia, the List of cities in Bavaria by population, second-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Bav ...
,
Augsburg
Augsburg ( , ; ; ) is a city in the Bavaria, Bavarian part of Swabia, Germany, around west of the Bavarian capital Munich. It is a College town, university town and the regional seat of the Swabia (administrative region), Swabia with a well ...
Hamburg
Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...
, and via
Tirol to
Venice
Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...
, and from there to
Rome
Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...
. On his return he spent five months in Venice, working as a
journeyman where he could, before crossing the Alps again in 1609.
On his return voyage, Bailly worked for several German princes including the Duke of
Brunswick.
Returning to the Netherlands in 1613, Bailly began painting
still-life subjects and portraits, including self-portraits and portraits of his students and professors at the
University of Leiden.
Bailly is known for his
vanitas paintings that suggest the transience of life with ephemeral symbols like flowers, candles, musical instruments, skulls, and bubbles. In 1648, Bailly became the head of the
Leiden Guild of St. Luke.
David Bailly
in the RKD
The Netherlands Institute for Art History or RKD (Dutch: ), previously Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie (RKD), is located in The Hague and is home to the largest art history center in the world. The center specializes in document ...
He also taught his nephews Harmen and Pieter Steenwijck to paint.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bailly, David
1584 births
1657 deaths
Dutch Golden Age painters
Dutch male painters
Dutch portrait painters
Dutch still life painters
Painters from Leiden