Jan Asselijn (c.1610 – October 1, 1652) was a
Dutch Golden Age painter
Dutch Golden Age painting is the painting of the Dutch Golden Age, a period in Dutch history roughly spanning the 17th century, during and after the later part of the Eighty Years' War (1568–1648) for Dutch independence.
The new Dutch Republi ...
.
Biography
Asselijn was born at
Dieppe
Dieppe (; Norman: ''Dgieppe'') is a coastal commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France.
Dieppe is a seaport on the English Channel at the mouth of the river Arques. A regular ferry service runs to Newh ...
from a French
Huguenot
The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Bez ...
family as ''Jean Asselin''. He received instruction from
Esaias van de Velde
Esaias van de Velde (17 May 1587 (baptized) – 18 November 1630 (buried)
) was a Dutch landscape painter.
Biography
He was born in Amsterdam, where his Flemish father Hans had fled as a Protestant in 1585. He probably studied under his fathe ...
(1587–1630), and distinguished himself particularly in
landscape
A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or man-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes th ...
and animal painting, though his historical works and battle pieces are also admired. He traveled in France and Italy, and modeled his style after Bamboccio (
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 environ ...
), also a member of the
Bentvueghels
The Bentvueghels (Dutch for "Birds of a Feather") were a society of mostly Dutch and Flemish artists active in Rome from about 1620 to 1720. They are also known as the Schildersbent ("painters' clique").
Activities
The members, which include ...
.
Nicolaes de Helt Stockade
Nicolaes van Helt Stockade (1614–1669), was a Dutch Golden Age painter.
Biography
According to Houbraken, Joost van den Vondel made a poem about him.
Stockade served as a court painter to King Louis XIII between 1637 and 1645. According to th ...
and Asselijn married two sisters in
Lyon
Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of ...
s in 1645, both daughters of Houwaart Koorman of
Antwerp. According to Houbraken, he heard this story from
Abraham Genoels, who in turn heard it from Laurens Frank, an artist who was staying in the Koorman household with
Artus Quellinus in Lyons at the time. Their marriages brought both Asselijn and Helt-Stockade back to the Netherlands after their travels.
[Jan Asselyn biography]
in ''De groote schouburgh der Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen'' (1718) by Arnold Houbraken, 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 ...
Asselijn had a withered hand and was small of stature, which gave him the nickname in France of ''petit Jean Hollandois'',
and which gave him the nickname ''Krabbetje''
(little claw) in the
Bentvueghels
The Bentvueghels (Dutch for "Birds of a Feather") were a society of mostly Dutch and Flemish artists active in Rome from about 1620 to 1720. They are also known as the Schildersbent ("painters' clique").
Activities
The members, which include ...
.
He seems to have befriended
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 co ...
.
[ In the etching that Rembrandt made of him, Asselijn appears in some states to be standing before an easel. His hands are not shown. Frederick de Moucheron, another Italianate landscape painter, was his pupil.
He was one of the first Dutch painters who introduced a fresh and clear manner of painting landscapes in the style of Claude Lorraine,] and his example was speedily followed by other artists. Asselijn's pictures were in high estimation at Amsterdam, and several of them are in the museums of that city. Twenty-four, painted in Italy, were engraved.
One of his paintings, ''The Threatened Swan'', which portrays a swan aggressively defending its nest, became a symbol of Dutch national resistance, although it is unknown if Asselijn intended it to be so. In particular, it was interpreted as a depiction of Johan de Witt
Johan de Witt (; 24 September 1625 – 20 August 1672), ''lord of Zuid- en Noord-Linschoten, Snelrewaard, Hekendorp en IJsselvere'', was a Dutch statesman and a major political figure in the Dutch Republic in the mid-17th century, the F ...
. Several inscriptions were added by later owners of the painting, including "Holland" on one of the eggs, and "Enemy of the state" next to the dog that is threatening the nest. Some parts of the painting are less realistic than the swan, such as the low-hanging clouds, the dog and the flat-looking eggs.[ The painting has been dated to the 1640s.][ It is considered to be Asselijn's most famous work] and was the Rijksmuseum's first acquisition.
Willem Schellinks' ''City Wall in the Winter'' was long thought to be Asselijn's, until the painting was restored and the original monogram was revealed.[Haak (1984), p. 473.]
Gallery
File:De bedreigde zwaan Rijksmuseum SK-A-4.jpeg, '' The Threatened Swan'', one of the major works in the Rijksmuseum
File:Ruitergevecht bij zonsondergang. Rijksmuseum SK-A-5.jpeg, ''Cavalry charge at sunset''. In the middle a kneeling musketman fires at an onrushing rider on a white horse.
File:SA 2481-De doorbraak van de St. Anthonisdijk in 1651-De doorbraak van de St. Anthonisdijk bij Houtewael in de nacht van 5 op 6 maart 1651.jpg, ''St. Anthonisdijk'' or ''St. Anthony's dyke
Dyke (UK) or dike (US) may refer to:
General uses
* Dyke (slang), a slang word meaning "lesbian"
* Dike (geology), a subvertical sheet-like intrusion of magma or sediment
* Dike (mythology), ''Dikē'', the Greek goddess of moral justice
* Dikes, ...
breach at Houtewael burst in the night of 5–6 March 1651''
File:Asselijn Jan - Flight into Egypt.jpg, Flight into Egypt, 1640 circa
File:Ezeldrijvers bij een Italiaanse ruïne Rijksmuseum SK-C-89.jpeg, ''Italian Landscape with the Ruins of a Roman Bridge and Aqueduct, undated, oil on canvas, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
Footnotes
References
*
External links
Jan Asselijn
in the RKD
{{DEFAULTSORT:Asselijn, Jan
1610s births
1652 deaths
People from Dieppe, Seine-Maritime
Dutch Golden Age painters
Dutch male painters
Members of the Bentvueghels