Cornelis Engebrechtsz., also known as Cornelis Engelbrechtsz. (c.1462–1527) was an early Dutch painter. He was born and died in

Leiden Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration wi ...

, and is considered the first important painter from that city."Cornelis Engebrechtsz."
J. Paul Getty Museum (archived) Engebrechtsz. taught a number of other Leiden painters, including Lucas van Leyden, Aertgen van Leyden and Engebrechtsz.' own sons Cornelis, Lucas, and Pieter Cornelisz. Kunst. Lucas van Leyden is considered his most important pupil, eclipsing Engebrechtsz. in popularity."Engelbrechtsz. (or Engebrechtsz., Cornelis)" in ''The Oxford Dictionary of Art'', Oxford University Press, 2004 Work by Engebrechtsz. is in the collection of the

Rijksmuseum Amsterdam The Rijksmuseum () is the national museum of the Netherlands dedicated to Dutch arts and history and is located in Amsterdam. The museum is located at the Museum Square in the borough of Amsterdam South, close to the Van Gogh Museum, the Ste ...

, the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, the

J. Paul Getty Museum The J. Paul Getty Museum, commonly referred to as the Getty, is an art museum in Los Angeles, California housed on two campuses: the Getty Center and Getty Villa. The Getty Center is located in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles and fea ...

in Los Angeles, the

Alte Pinakothek The Alte Pinakothek (, ''Old Pinakothek'') is an art museum located in the Kunstareal area in Munich, Germany. It is one of the oldest galleries in the world and houses a significant collection of Old Master paintings. The name Alte (Old) Pi ...

in Munich and the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

in New York, among others.

Career

Engebrechtsz. was the first painter in Leiden to whom work can be attributed with certainty.Rijksmuseum Amsterdam
(archived) The first mention of Engebrechtsz. in the archives was in 1482, when he sold some work to the Hieronymusdal priory (also known as Lopsen) in

Oegstgeest Oegstgeest () is a town and municipality in the province of South Holland in the western Netherlands. Its population was in . Etymology The portion ''geest'' in the name refers to the geest lands, which were excavated in the seventeenth cen ...

, near Leiden. He may have been trained as a painter in this monastery as well, although it is also quite possible that he received training in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

and Antwerp. He painted primarily Biblical themes, like a

triptych A triptych ( ; from the Greek adjective ''τρίπτυχον'' "''triptukhon''" ("three-fold"), from ''tri'', i.e., "three" and ''ptysso'', i.e., "to fold" or ''ptyx'', i.e., "fold") is a work of art (usually a panel painting) that is divided ...

of the

Lamentation of Christ The Lamentation of Christ is a very common subject in Christian art from the High Middle Ages to the Baroque. After Jesus was crucified, his body was removed from the cross and his friends mourned over his body. This event has been depicted by m ...

and a triptych of the

Crucifixion Crucifixion is a method of capital punishment in which the victim is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross or beam and left to hang until eventual death from exhaustion and asphyxiation. It was used as a punishment by the Persians, Carthagi ...

. Both were made for the Mariënpoel convent in Leiden and are now in Leiden's city museum,

Stedelijk Museum De Lakenhal Museum De Lakenhal is the city museum of fine art and history in Leiden, Netherlands. One highlight is its collection of fijnschilder paintings from the Dutch Golden Age. Just like the city, the museum combines a classical appearance with a contemp ...

. He also received commissions from the Leiden city government. Engebrechtsz. had a large, prolific workshop where he produced devotional art, together with his sons and other pupils. Through his sons, his later work became more and more influenced by Mannerism, a popular style of painting in Antwerp at that time (see

Antwerp Mannerism Antwerp Mannerism is the name given to the style of a group of largely anonymous painters active in the Southern Netherlands and principally in Antwerp in roughly the first three decades of the 16th century, a movement marking the tail end of Ear ...

). This Mannerist influence is clearly visible in the two triptychs.

Life

Engebrechtsz. was born sometime between 1460 and 1465. He probably lived in Leiden uninterrupted from about 1497 until his death. Engebrechtsz. was a member of the local archer ''

schutterij Schutterij () refers to a voluntary city guard or citizen militia in the medieval and early modern Netherlands, intended to protect the town or city from attack and act in case of revolt or fire. Their training grounds were often on open spaces w ...

'' (militia) from 1499 tot 1506 and the crossbow militia from 1515 to 1522. Around 1520 he served as captain of the crossbow militia. Engebrechtsz. married Elysbeth Pietersdr. in of around 1487. They had six children, including three sons, all of whom followed in their father's footsteps and became painters. Engebrechtsz. died somewhere between 11 February and 26 August 1527. There was some quarreling over his inheritance after his death, indicating that he has amassed a considerable estate."Cornelis Engebrechtsz.", Grove Dictionary of Art
(archived)

References

External links

Cornelis Engebrechtsz.
at the

Netherlands Institute for Art History The Netherlands Institute for Art History or RKD (Dutch: RKD-Nederlands Instituut voor Kunstgeschiedenis), previously Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie (RKD), is located in The Hague and is home to the largest art history center i ...

Artcyclopedia: Cornelis Engebrechtsz.
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Engebrechtsz, Cornelis 1460s births 1527 deaths Dutch Renaissance painters Artists from Leiden Early Netherlandish painters

Career

Life

See also

References

Further reading

External links