- Written by L.C.Geerts
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Famous Dutch Painters from Dordrecht, Ancient Capital of Holland
Part 5
The Cuyp family part 1
11. Jacob Gerritz Cuyp
12. Benjamin Gerritz Cuyp
Note : Please do not email me with technical questions about paintings and their age and origin because I am not an expert but I only have gathered information about the Painters from the Netherlands and specially from Dordrecht.
Dordrecht is not only known as the oldest city and ancient capital of Holland but also for the many famous painters who were born or lived in Dordrecht during the late Middle ages and later centuries.
On the next pages you can find many works from these famous painters who were responsible for many styles of paintings and they immortalized the daily life and landscapes in the 15th to 19th century. Most of their masterpieces are nowadays part of collections in museums all over the world and of which many can be seen in the local Dordrechts Museum.
The Cuyp family
Cuyp is the name of a family of Dutch painters of Dordrecht, of which three members gained distinction : Benjamin Gerritz Cuyp, Jacob Gerritz Cuyp and the most famous Albaert Cuyp.
At the end of the 16th century, Countless non-Catholics fled to Holland driven by Spanish troops, which is why glazier, stained-glass artist and painter Gerrit Gerritsz. Cuyp (c. 1565-1644), the father of Jacob, moved from Venlo to Dordrecht. He was the first important artist in the Cuyp family. His son Jacob and grandson Aelbert followed in his footsteps. Both Jacob and Aelbert occupied numerous public positions in Dordrecht. Many sites within the city are associated with the Cuyp family, including the Augustijnenkerk where both Jacob and Aelbert Cuyp are buried. Aelbert often produced paintings and drawings of his native city. Dordrecht's city profile with the distinctive truncated tower of the Dordrecht Minster (Grote Kerk) and the Groothoofdspoort has remained remarkably intact.
Although Aelbert Cuyp was little known outside Dordrecht during his lifetime, international recognition of his work became evident towards the end of the 18th century, resulting in virtually his entire oeuvre being exported abroad. England was the scene of true Cuyp mania and a multitude of artists produced copies of his work. These prints and drawings, often in a large format, provide an impressive overview of Aelbert Cuyp's finest paintings.
Aelbert Cuyp has never been forgotten in Dordrecht itself as evidenced by the work of artists such as Aert Schouman and the Van Strij brothers. Abraham and Jacob van Strij not only literally copied their 17th-century predecessor, but also drew inspiration from Cuyp when creating new compositions.
Benjamin Gerritsz Cuyp
Dordrecht 1612 - Dordrecht 1652
Benjamin Gerritsz. Cuyp (1612-52) was the half-brother of Jacob. He is noted principally for paintings of biblical and genre scenes which use Rembrandtesque light and shadow effects.
The Angel at the grave of Christ
Benjamin Gerritsz Cuyp
Oil on panel 34,5 x 27,2 cm
Dordrechts Museum
Cuyp placed with fast, flowing paintbrush how the angel took the stone away from the tomb.
Interior of an Inn
Benjamin Gerritsz Cuyp
Oil on panel 52,4 x 69,3 cm
Dordrechts Museum
Benjamin Cuyp painted not only numerous biblical scenes but also many batailles (equestrian fights) and themes with groups of people.
The liberation of Peter
Benjamin Gerritsz Cuyp
Oil on panel 74,5 x 69,9 cm
Dordrechts Museum
The picture indicates the moment whereupon the angel soak Peter, whereas the sentries are still in deep sleep. With a cluster fierce of light in the further quite dark space Cuyp aimed at all attention to Peter as the leading character. The liberation of Petrus was a popular theme in the Dutch art of painting of the seventeenth century. Benjamin Cuyp painted it at least fifteen times.
The adoration of the kings
Benjamin Gerritsz Cuyp
Oil on canvas 155,5 x 219 cm
Dordrechts Museum
These is one of the biggest known works of Benjamin Cuyp. In a triangle composition with a large number of figures densely placed near each other.
Beach scene with fish sellers
Benjamin Gerritsz Cuyp
Oil on canvas 81 x 115,5 cm
Dordrechts Museum
Adoration of the shepherds
Benjamin Gerritsz Cuyp
Oil on panel 68,1 x 97,5 cm
Dordrechts Museum
Benjamin Cuyp has painted this theme more than 25 times. In this version we see rough shepherds who are likely seem to be run away from the field.
Joseph explains the baker and the pourer their dreams
Benjamin Gerritsz Cuyp
Oil on panel 73 × 62 cm
Rijksmuseum Amsterdam
The Parable of the Blind
Benjamin Gerritsz Cuyp
Oil on canvas 76.5 x 70.5 cm
National museum Wales
Anunciation to the Shepherds
Benjamin-Gerritsz Cuyp, c. 1635
Oil on panel 83.8 x 115.3 cm
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Brawl between Peasants
Benjamin Gerritsz Cuyp
Previously attributed to Aelbert Cuyp
The Holburne Museum of Art, Bath
Benjamin's technique was to apply liquid paint with rapid brushstrokes. He used a limited palette of colors, brown, yellow-brown, dull greens and an occasional rust red accent. He often painted low-life genre scenes, such as this, and biblical scenes.
The Angel Is Opening Christ's Tomb
Benjamin Gerritsz Cuyp c.1640
Oil on panel 72 x 89,6 cm
Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest
Peasants in the Tavern
Benjamin Gerritsz Cuyp
Oil on panel, 53 x 76 cm
Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest
The adoration of the Pastors
Benjamin Gerritsz Cuyp
Oil on panel 81 x 65 cm
Museo del Prado. Madrid
Soldiers repairing fortifications
Benjamin Gerritsz Cuyp
Oil on canvas 101.6 x 152.1 cm
Private collection
Parable of the blind
Benjamin Gerritsz Cuyp, c. 1645
Oil on canvas
Private collection
The Satyr and the Peasant Family
Benjamin Gerritsz Cuyp
Oil on panel, 58 x 75 cm
Private collection
Farmers feasting before a Tavern
Benjamin Gerritsz Cuyp
Oil on canvas 107 x 138 cm
Private collection
The Raising of Lazarus
Benjamin Gerritsz Cuyp
Private collection
Beach scene at Scheveningen
Benjamin Gerritsz Cuyp, early 1640s
Oil on canvas, doubled. 100 : 132 cm
Private collection
The Scheveningen beach is near The Hague, where the artist settles for some time in the early 1640s. The people's daily routines inspire him to depict the busy scene with a fish market, two horsemen, and the fishermen with their boats at low tide.
The Adoration of the Shepherds
Benjamin Gerritsz. Cuyp
oil on panel 88.8 x 69.3 cm
Private collection
The Conversion of Saul
Benjamin Gerritsz. Cuyp
oil on canvas 75.5 x 92.1 cm
Private collection
A guardroom interior with soldirs resting
Benjamin Gerritsz. Cuyp
oil on panel, circular 53.1 cm
Private collection
A guardroom interior with soldiers drinking and smoking
Benjamin Gerritsz. Cuyp
oil on panel, oval 43.2 x 58.4 cm
Private collection
Boors drinking and smoking in a barn
Benjamin Gerritsz. Cuyp
oil on panel 45.9 x 51.4 cm
Private collection
Encampment of soldiers
Benjamin Gerritsz. Cuyp
oil on canvas 87.5 x 121.6 cm
Private collection
The Adoration of the Shepherds
Benjamin Gerritsz. Cuyp
oil on panel 50.4 x 69.8 cm
Private collection
Soldiers playing cards in a cave
Benjamin Gerritsz. Cuyp
oil on panel30.5 x 41.9 cm
Private collection
Jacob Gerritsz. Cuyp
Dordrecht 1594 - Dordrecht 1651/52
Jacob Gerritsz Cuyp (1594-1651/2) was the son of a glass painter and a pupil of Abraham Bloemaert at Utrecht. He is thought of today mainly as a portrait painter--his portraits of children are particularly fine--but in old biographies is lauded principally for his views of the Countryside around Dordrecht. He was the father of Albaert Cuyp and half-brother of Benjamin Gerritsz Cuyp.
Master of an entire generation of painters Jacob Cuyp was a prominent member of the St. Luke's Guild in Dordrecht. In 1642, he was one of the four leaders when the fine painters branched off from the guild. He was the first important painter in Dordrecht and can be seen as the nestor of the Dordrecht painters. His pupils included his half-brother Benjamin, his famous son Aelbert, Paulus Lesire and Ferdinand Bol. Work by painters working in Dordrecht such as Jan Olis and Pietsser Verelst also appears to have been influenced by Cuyp. It is thought that a number of young Dordrecht painters such as Nicolaes Maes and Ferdindand Bol moved to Amsterdam to become pupils of Rembrandt on Jacob Cuyp's recommendation.
Jacob Cuyp was an extremely versatile painter and drawer. In addition to portraits, he produced many history pieces, still lifes and genre pieces. He was a pupil of Abraham Bloemaert and some of his works were distinctly influenced by this Utrecht master and were produced in Caravaggian style, as was popular in Utrecht at the time. Jacob Cuyp would also have been familiar with the work of the Amsterdam painter Nicolaes Moeyaert.
While Aelbert Cuyp is nowadays considered as one of the greatest landscape painters, in the 17th century it was his father who ranked among the most important painters in Dordrecht for many years.
Portrait of Michiel Pompe van Slingeland
Jacob Gerritz Cuyp, 1649
Oil on canvas 106,5 x 78 cm
Dordrechts Museum
Parrot Tulips
Jacob Gerritz Cuyp, 1638
Oil on panel, 38 x 76 cm
Dordrechts Museum
Paul at his writing table
Jacob Gerritz Cuyp. 1627
Oil on canvas 85,2 x 102,9 cm
Dordrechts Museum
The old man seems to stop writing a letter as if he is interrupted by the onlooker. Cuyp involved the spectator on this manner directly in the picture. Letter, books and sword make clearly that these is the apostle Paul.
The regretful Peter
Jacob Gerritz Cuyp
Oil on canvas on panel 71,2 x 99,3 cm
Dordrechts Museum
Cuyp has a number of religious works on his name. In this early picture of the mourning Petrus in a light incidence This picture is a pendant of a painting with the apostle Paulus.
Portrait of Anthonis Repelaer
Jacob Gerritz Cuyp, 1647
Oil on panel 71,6 x 58,5 cm
Dordrechts Museum
Jacob Cuyp received many portrait assignments from the Repelaer family, an influential Dordts race. Anthonis Repelaer (1591 -1652) was as beer brewer and administrator of the VOC and WIC a successful entrepreneur. He fulfilled various functions in his town administration and put oneself in as deacon and orphan maestro.
Study of plants
Jacob Gerritz Cuyp ca. 1640
black chalk, pencil in grey 17,9 x 25,4 cm
Dordrechts Museum
This drawing was for centuries considered as made by Aelbert Cuyp.
Shepherdess wit child in a landscape
Jacob Gerritz Cuyp, 1627
Oil on canvas 125 x 174 cm
Dordrechts Museum
Cuyp combines in this picture his specialities: He showed that he not only persons, but also animals, plant and a scenery can be produced.
The fish market
Jacob Gerritz Cuyp, 1627
Oil on canvas 110,4 x 122,2 cm
Dordrechts Museum
The portrayal of fishes and of coins - the currencies in the center of the painting can be an indication that this painting is produced by order of tthe fishers guild. At the richt site on the background of the picture Cuyp portrayed himself.
Three children of the Francken family in a landscape
Jacob Gerritsz. Cuyp, 1635
olieverf op doek, 130 x 198 cm
Museum Boijmans-Van Beuningen, Rotterdam
These children were from a rich family, what we can see on the pricey outfits, fully according to the fashion of those time. The girl to the left carries a ring with a skull. She died before the picture was ready.
In those days many children died young, because of that its possible why the age of the girl (2 ¼) is scratched in the tree. Of the other children only the age in years is mentioned (6 and 8).
Portrait of Abel Tasman, his wife and daughter
Jacob Gerritsz Cuyp, 1637
Oil on canvas 106.7 x 132.1 cm
National Library of Sydney, Australia
Tasman is best known for his voyages of 1642 and 1644 in the service of the VOC (United East India Company). His was the first known European expedition to reach the islands of Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania) and New Zealand and to sight the Fiji islands, which he did in 1643. Tasman, his navigator Visscher, and his Merchant Gilsemans also mapped substantial portions of Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands.
Tasmania and New Holland (now called Australia), the island of Tasmania is named after him.
The Grape Grower
Jacob Gerritz Cuyp, 1628
Oil on canvas
The Hermitage, St. Petersburg
Portrait of a Child
Jacob Gerritz Cuyp
Oil on wood, 37 x 32 cm
Städelsches Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt
Portrait of a boy
Jacob Gerritsz Cuyp
Louvre Museum Paris
Portrait of a girl
Jacob Gerritsz Cuyp
Louvre Museum Paris
Portrait of a Young Baron
Jacob Gerritsz Cuyp
Amiens Musée de Picardie
Johan van Oldenbarneveldt
Jacob Gerritsz Cuyp
Tabla. 78 x 60 cm
Museo del Prado. Madrid
Portrait of a Family in a Landscape
Jacob and Albeart Cuyp, 1641
Oil on canvas 61 x 96 cm
The Israel Museum, Jerusalem
Portrait of a gentleman, aged 47, bust-length, in black costume with a flat collar of white lace, a black coat and leather gloves
Jacob Gerritsz. Cuyp, 1645
oil on panel 74.4 x 5.2 cm
Private collection
Double portrait of a father and son, the gentleman, half-length, holding a black hat in his right hand, his son, aged 11, also holding a black hat in his right hand
Jacob Gerritsz. Cuyp, 1644
oil on panel 109.8 x 76.3 cm
Private collection
Peasants in an Interior
Jacob Gerritsz. Cuyp
Oil on Panel 33.7 x 25.4 cm
Private collection
Annunciation to the Shepherds
Jacob Gerritz Cuyp
Oil on panel 33 x 45 cm
Private collection
Portrait of child holding a bird
Jacob Gerritsz Cuyp, 1636
Oil on canvas 114 x 91 cm
Private collection
Portrait of Maria Stricke van Scharlaken as a shepherdess
Jacob Gerritsz Cuyp, 1650
Oil on Pane 83.2 x 64.8 cm
Private collection
Two jaguars
Jacob Gerritsz Cuyp, c. 1639
Oil on Panel 43.2 x 55.3 cm
Private collection
Three children in a landscape
Jacob Gerritsz Cuyp, 1639
Oil on panel 97 x 116.5 cm
Private collection
This enchanting portrait depicts three children, with a lamb and a black and white puppy. The youngsters are shown full length against the backdrop of a peaceful landscape, where sheep and cattle graze. The boy and two girls are fancifully dressed in the guise of shepherds and shepherdesses. The older girl is seated, wearing a golden-yellow dress, with square-cut neckline and laced bodice, tied at the waist with a stripy sash. In one hand she holds a broad-brimmed straw hat, bedecked with pink roses and, in the other, a branch of leaves, upon which the lamb nibbles delicately.
Her younger sister stands on her right, clad in a similar outfit in green, with a red sash and a posy of flowers in her hair. Their rosy-cheeked brother, who is dressed in a purple, knee-length garment and Roman-style sandals on his feet, stands close beside the lamb, with his hand on its woolly neck. Each child bears a crook, the traditional attribute of shepherds. On the ground close to the viewer, appear four fragile bubbles, one of which has already partially evaporated.
A Shepherd
Jacob Gerritsz. Cuyp, 1638
oil on panel 74.3 x 59.7 cm
Private collection
Portrait of Johanna van Diemen, aged 61, half-length, in a cartwheel ruff with a coat of arms
Jacob Gerritsz. Cuyp, 1647
oil on panel 74.3 x 60 cm
Private collection