The Weaponsmith

1644–1655 · Wirkungsort

Leiden

1648

Joins the Leiden Guild of St Luke

In 1648, together with Jan Steen, Joris van Schooten, David Bailly and Pieter de Ring, he was registered among the first members of the newly founded Leiden Guild of St Luke.

c. 1655

Moves from Leiden to Amsterdam

With money troubles during the First Anglo-Dutch War he moved to Amsterdam — though other accounts say he settled there only in 1657, living in Leiden with short breaks until then. He lived in an alley on the Prinsengracht next to a brewery and near his relatives, the children of the sugar refiner Philips Metsu; in Amsterdam he came under the influence of Gerard ter Borch and possibly Pieter Codde.

27. April 1658

Married: Isabella de Wolff

early 1660s

Turns to the Leiden “fijnschilders”

At the onset of the 1660s he turned for inspiration to the art of the Leiden “fijnschilders” (“fine painters”), whose origin is traced to Dou: their paintings on wood or copper are marked by exceptional rendering of minute detail and a smooth, glowing surface. He was apparently responding to the market for Dou’s paintings, which Dou sold at exorbitant prices.

c. 1661

Wins the patronage of the cloth merchant Jan Hinlopen

He won the patronage of the Amsterdam cloth merchant Jan J. Hinlopen, one of his most important patrons, and painted his family more than once in a fashionable setting. Such works include the “Portrait of the Hinlopen Family” (Berlin) and “Visit to the Nursery” (Metropolitan Museum).