Hendrick Gerritszoon van Uylenburgh (c. 1587 – 1661) was an influential

Dutch Golden Age The Dutch Golden Age ( nl, Gouden Eeuw ) was a period in the history of the Netherlands, roughly spanning the era from 1588 (the birth of the Dutch Republic) to 1672 (the Rampjaar, "Disaster Year"), in which Dutch trade, science, and art and ...

art dealer An art dealer is a person or company that buys and sells works of art, or acts as the intermediary between the buyers and sellers of art. An art dealer in contemporary art typically seeks out various artists to represent, and builds relationshi ...

who helped launch the careers of

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 cons ...

, Govert Flinck, Ferdinand Bol and other painters.

Biography

Van Uylenburgh came from a

Frisia Frisia is a cross-border cultural region in Northwestern Europe. Stretching along the Wadden Sea, it encompasses the north of the Netherlands and parts of northwestern Germany. The region is traditionally inhabited by the Frisians, a West G ...

n family and emigrated with this family to

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula, Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland un ...

(

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

) when he was a boy. He was trained as a painter and also worked as an art buyer for the Polish king. Around 1612 he moved to Danzig (now Gdańsk) and in 1625 returned to the Netherlands, settling in the bustling capital of

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

. Van Uylenburgh took over the business of Cornelis van der Voort and became an art dealer, employing painters in his own studio. In 1631 Rembrandt moved into van Uylenburgh's house (adjacent to Rembrandt's later home, now the Rembrandt House Museum) to work in Van Uylenburgh's studio. Rembrandt became chief painter of the studio and in 1634 married Van Uylenburgh's first cousin Saskia van Uylenburgh. In 1647 Van Uylenburgh had to move to a new location on Dam square, because Nicolaes Eliaszoon Pickenoy sold the house. When his house on Dam square was appropriated to build a new city hall (now the

Royal Palace This is a list of royal palaces, sorted by continent. Africa * Abdin Palace, Cairo * Al-Gawhara Palace, Cairo * Koubbeh Palace, Cairo * Tahra Palace, Cairo * Menelik Palace * Jubilee Palace * Guenete Leul Palace * Imperial Palace- ...

), Van Uylenburgh relocated to Westermarkt square. His son

Gerrit van Uylenburgh Gerrit van Uylenburgh (c. 1625 – 1679), or Gerrit Uylenburgh, was a Dutch Golden Age painter and art-dealer. He was the eldest son of Hendrick van Uylenburgh and took over the family art-dealing business after Hendrick's death and burial i ...

took over the family business after Van Uylenburgh's death and burial in the Westerkerk church in 1661. Gerrit went bankrupt in 1675 following accusations that he had sold forged art to

Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg Frederick William (german: Friedrich Wilhelm; 16 February 1620 – 29 April 1688) was Elector of Brandenburg and Duke of Prussia, thus ruler of Brandenburg-Prussia, from 1640 until his death in 1688. A member of the House of Hohenzollern, h ...

Posterity

In 2006 the Rembrandt House Museum presented an exhibition around Hendrick van Uylenburgh and his son Gerrit. The exhibition was also shown at the Dulwich Picture Gallery in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

References

External links

Telegraph.co.uk: A very modern 17th-century art dealer (via web.archive.org)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Uylenburgh, Hendrick Van 1580s births 1661 deaths 17th-century Dutch people Businesspeople from Amsterdam Dutch art dealers Dutch expatriates in Poland People from Friesland