Jacob Savery or Jacob Savery the Elder
[Name variations: Jacob Maertensz. Saverij and Jacques Savery] (1566 – buried 23 April 1603) was a
Flemish
Flemish may refer to:
* Flemish, adjective for Flanders, Belgium
* Flemish region, one of the three regions of Belgium
*Flemish Community, one of the three constitutionally defined language communities of Belgium
* Flemish dialects, a Dutch dialec ...
painter,
etcher
Etching is traditionally the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio (incised) in the metal. In modern manufacturing, other chemicals may be used on other types ...
and
draughtsman. He was trained in
Antwerp
Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...
and later moved to 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 ...
after 1584. He specialised in
still life
A still life (: still lifes) is a work of art depicting mostly wikt:inanimate, inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which are either natural (food, flowers, dead animals, plants, rocks, shells, etc.) or artificiality, human-m ...
s, animals, landscapes en
genre painting
Genre painting (or petit genre) is the painting of genre art, which 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 ca ...
s.
[
]
Life
Jacob was born in Kortrijk
Kortrijk ( , ; or ''Kortrik''; ), sometimes known in English as Courtrai or Courtray ( ), is a Belgian City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region, Flemish Provinces of Belgium, province of We ...
into a family of painters. His father was Maerten Savery. Jacob probably apprenticed with the Flemish Mannerist
Mannerism is a style in European art that emerged in the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520, spreading by about 1530 and lasting until about the end of the 16th century in Italy, when the Baroque style largely replaced it ...
painter Hans Bol
Hans Bol or Jan Bol (16 December 1534 – 20 November 1593), was a Southern Netherlands, Flemish painter, Miniature art, miniature painter, print artist and draftsman. as was reported by the early biographer .[Iaques Savry]
an
in 's ''Schilderboeck'', 1604, courtesy of the Digital library for Dutch literature As Anabaptist
Anabaptism (from Neo-Latin , from the Greek language, Greek : 're-' and 'baptism'; , earlier also )Since the middle of the 20th century, the German-speaking world no longer uses the term (translation: "Re-baptizers"), considering it biased. ...
s, the Savery family was forced to leave their native Flanders for fear of Spanish persecution 1580.[Joaneath A. Spicer. "Savery.]
Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. Web. 16 Nov. 2013 The Savery family first stayed in Antwerp which had a Calvinist government. Savery was mentioned as the best student of the landscape painter Hans Bol
Hans Bol or Jan Bol (16 December 1534 – 20 November 1593), was a Southern Netherlands, Flemish painter, Miniature art, miniature painter, print artist and draftsman. . This must have been in Antwerp in the period from 1580 to 1583.[Jacob Savery]
at the Netherlands Institute for Art History
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 ...
Jacob Savery settled around 1584 in Haarlem
Haarlem (; predecessor of ''Harlem'' in English language, English) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the Provinces of the Nether ...
. Here he married Trijntgen Kokelen on 22 March 1587. The family moved to 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 ...
where in 1587, Jacob joined 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 1591, Jacob became a citizen of Amsterdam.][
He was the teacher of Joos Goeimare, his brother ]Roelant Savery
Roelant Savery (or ''Roeland(t) Maertensz Saverij'', or ''de Savery'', or many variants; 1576 – buried 25 February 1639) was a Flanders-born Dutch Golden Age painter.
Life
Savery was born in Kortrijk. Like so many other artists, he belonged ...
(who became more famous because he was court painter at the imperial court in Prague
Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...
), Frans Grebber (then a promising young painter and tapestry worker in Haarlem) and Willem van Nieulandt II. His three sons also became artists: Hans Savery II (1589–1654) was active in Amsterdam and Utrecht, where he assisted and imitated his uncle Roelant, Jacob Savery the Younger (1592–after 1651) was an animal painter and Salomon Savery (1594–1678) was a respected Amsterdam printmaker and publisher. Jacob Savery the Younger's son, Jacob Savery III (1617–66), became a printmaker and publisher.[ Jacob Saverys' daughter Maria was the mother of the painters Geertruydt Roghman, Roelant Roghman and Magdalena Roghman.][
Savery died in Amsterdam where he was buried on 23 April 1603. The cause of death was reportedly the plague.][
]
Work
Jacob’s earliest known works of 1584–6 are mostly cabinet
Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to:
Furniture
* Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers
* Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets
* Filin ...
-size landscapes that clearly show the influence of his master Hans Bol.
In Amsterdam Jacob was active as painter, etcher and draftsman. He produced a series of etchings in Pieter Bruegel the Elder
Pieter Bruegel (also Brueghel or Breughel) the Elder ( , ; ; – 9 September 1569) was among the most significant artists of Dutch and Flemish Renaissance painting, a painter and printmaking, printmaker, known for his landscape art, landscape ...
's stipple technique depicting idealized rural scenes full of picturesque details, such as castle ruins and rabbit hunts. It is believed that Jacob also produced forgeries of Bruegel's pen-and-ink drawings of mountains and rural or Amsterdam subjects by adding false Bruegel signatures and dates between 1559 and 1562. These works have now been attributed to Jacob himself.
His genre paintings of low-life scenes are similar in style to Bruegel.
Savery also painted landscapes that were influenced by Gillis van Coninxloo
Gillis van Coninxloo (now also referred to as Gillis van Coninxloo II but previously referred to as Gillis van Coninxloo III) (24 January 1544 – January 1607) was a Flemish painter of landscapes who played an important role in the development ...
who worked in Amsterdam from 1595. Despite contemporary references to his flower paintings, no examples have been identified.
Jacob’s animal paintings, with their abundance of creatures, adopt a near naturalistic approach. This new approach to animal painting likely played a role in his brother Roelant’s development of animal painting into an independent genre.[Joaneath A. Spicer. "Jacob Savery I]
Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. Web. 16 Nov. 2013
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Savery, Jacob
1566 births
Flemish landscape painters
1603 deaths
People from Kortrijk
Sibling artists
Flemish draughtsmen