Aert Schouman or Aart Schouman (4 March 1710 – 5 July 1792) was an 18th-century painter, now better known as a glass engraver, from the

Dutch Republic The United Provinces of the Netherlands, commonly referred to in historiography as the Dutch Republic, was a confederation that existed from 1579 until the Batavian Revolution in 1795. It was a predecessor state of the present-day Netherlands ...

. Schouman was born in

Dordrecht Dordrecht (), historically known in English as Dordt (still colloquially used in Dutch, ) or Dort, is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Western Netherlands, lo ...

. When 15 years old he served as apprentice to the Dordrecht artist Adriaan van der Burg, along with Cornelis Greenwood, the son of his teacher for glass engraving, Frans Greenwood,Aart Schouman
in the

RKD The Netherlands Institute for Art History or RKD (Dutch: ), previously Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie (RKD), is located in The Hague and is home to the largest art history center in the world. The center specializes in document ...

inventor of the stipple style, which Schouman also worked in. Schouman was unusual among painters in that he kept a detailed diary of his professional life from 16 October 1733 to 16 November 1753. He took on his first art pupil in 1733 and continued teaching for the rest of his life. From 1742 until 1792 he was head of the Dordrecht Guild of St. Luke, and in 1751 he became regent of the Hague drawing school associated with the

Confrerie Pictura The Confrerie Pictura was a more or less academic club of artists founded in 1656 in The Hague (the Netherlands) by local art painters, who were unsatisfied by the Guild of Saint Luke there. History The guild of St. Luke in the Hague existed a ...

of The Hague. In 1736 he founded the "Brotherhood" of the Confrerie in The Hague, a fraternity of amateur art lovers from Dordrecht and environs, of which he was headman during the years 1752–1762. Schouman was a leading artist in

Zeeland Zeeland (; ), historically known in English by the Endonym and exonym, exonym Zealand, is the westernmost and least populous province of the Netherlands. The province, located in the southwest of the country, borders North Brabant to the east ...

between 1735 and 1785. During that period he lived and worked in Dordrecht, The Hague and

Middelburg Middelburg may refer to: Places and jurisdictions Europe * Middelburg, Zeeland, the capital city of the province of Zeeland, southwestern Netherlands ** Roman Catholic Diocese of Middelburg, a former Catholic diocese with its see in the Zeeland ...

and taught pupils in Dordrecht and The Hague. He travelled to England twice and assembled an important collection of paintings. He was a prolific and versatile Dutch painter, glass engraver, printmaker, collector and dealer, who produced still lifes, biblical and mythological themes, natural history studies, genre, historical and topographical works, portraits, sketches,

etching Etching is traditionally the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio (incised) in the metal. In modern manufacturing, other chemicals may be used on other type ...

s and

mezzotint Mezzotint is a monochrome printmaking process of the intaglio (printmaking), intaglio family. It was the first printing process that yielded half-tones without using line- or dot-based techniques like hatching, cross-hatching or stipple. Mezzo ...

s. He designed tapestries, painted wall-hangings and decorated objects such as fans, snuffboxes and even the glass windows of a

magic lantern The magic lantern, also known by its Latin name , is an early type of image projector that uses pictures—paintings, prints, or photographs—on transparent plates (usually made of glass), one or more lens (optics), lenses, and a light source. ...

. His pupils were Wouter Dam, Jabes Heenck, Dirk Kuipers, Pieter Willem van Megen, Nicolaes Muys, Jan van Os

Joris Ponse Joris Ponse (March 1723, Dordrecht - December 1783, Dordrecht) was a Dutch painter primarily of birds, fruit, and flowers. Ponse was a scholar of Aert Schouman. He passed through many vicissitudes, being at one time reduced to gain a livelihood by ...

Martinus Schouman Martinus Schouman (1770 – 1848) was a Dutch painter who specialised in marine art. Biography Schouman was born in 1770 in Dordrecht. According to the RKD he was the pupil and grandnephew of Aert Schouman and the brother of Aert II.

(his grandnephew), Jan Willem Snoek, Rutger Moens Taats, Wouter Uiterlimmige, Wilhelmus Vincentius, Jacobus Vonck, and Daniël Vrijdag. He died in The Hague, aged 82. His painting of , the Dordrecht art collector and

Maecenas Gaius Cilnius Maecenas ( 13 April 68 BC – 8 BC) was a friend and political advisor to Octavian (who later reigned as emperor Augustus). He was also an important patron for the new generation of Augustan poets, including both Horace and Virgil. ...

, gives an insight into the relationship between artist and patron.

References

Aert Schouman
on

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Bibliography

* Laurens J. Bol ''Aert Schouman. Dordrecht 1710-1792 's-Gravenhage. Tentoonstelling bijeengebracht uit openbaar en particulier bezit van tekeningen, aquarellen en prenten'', Rijksprentenkabinet Rijksmuseum Amsterdam 1961 * Meile D. Haga ''La Voliere Imaginaire. Aquarelles d'oiseaux par Aert Schouman (1710-17920)'', Paris, 1982 * Laurens J. Bol ''Aart Schouman. Ingenious painter and draughtsman'', Doornspijk, 1991 {{DEFAULTSORT:Schouman, Aert 1710 births 1792 deaths 18th-century Dutch painters 18th-century Dutch male artists Dutch male painters Glass engravers Painters from Dordrecht Painters from The Hague Dutch glass artists