Adriaen Van De Venne

Adriaen Pietersz van de Venne (1589 – 12 November 1662), was a versatile Dutch Golden Age painter of allegories, genre subjects, and portraits, as well as a miniaturist, book illustrator, designer of political satires, and versifier.

Biography

Van de Venne was born in Delft. According to Houbraken he learned Latin in Leiden. He learned to paint from the master goldsmith and painter Simon de Valk, and afterwards learned engraving from Jeronimus van Diest, a good painter of grisailles. He then moved to Middelburg in 1614 where he was influenced by Jan Brueghel the Elder and Pieter Brueghel the Elder. His political painting '' Fishing for Souls'', 1614, is an ironic commentary on the Catholic and Protestant troubles of the Eighty Years War that split the border between the Northern from the Southern Netherlands along the Schelde river, very close to his home in Middleburg. When he painted this picture, the Twelve Years' Truce was in effect since 1609. The influence of Jan Brueghel the Elder is particularly evident in this allegory of religious fanaticism.

From 1620 until his death van de Venne made many grisailles and engravings of genre subjects, featuring peasants, beggars, thieves and fools as illustrations of current proverbs and sayings, mostly by Jacob Cats.Noted in the preface by K. Porteman to Annelies Plokker, ''Adriaen Pietersz. Van de Venne (1589-1662), de grisailles met spreukbanden'' (1984). This work made him famous during his lifetime, and remained popular throughout the 18th century after his death.

Van de Venne also worked as a book illustrator and print designer. Van de Venne moved to The Hague and joined the Guild of Saint Luke in 1625, taking the position of dean in 1637. He was a founding member of Confrerie Pictura, a group bent on improving the independent status and social position of the artist in Dutch society by encouraging a more academic approach to the arts. He died in The Hague.

File:Van den Venne dodo.jpg, ''A Dodo'' (1626)
File:Adriaen van de Venne - Woman and a jester - M.Ob.1720 MNW - National Museum in Warsaw.jpg, ''Woman and a jester.'' (1630s)
File:Adriaen Pietersz. van de Venne - An Amorous Peasant Couple Conversing - WGA24547.jpg, ''An Amorous Peasant Couple Conversing'' (1631)
File:Adriaen Pietersz. van de Venne - A Cavalier at His Dressing Table - WGA24549.jpg, ''A Cavalier at His Dressing Table'' (1631)

File:Adriaen van de Venne (Dutch - A Merry Company in an Arbor - Google Art Project.jpg, ''A Merry Company in an Arbor''
File:Adriaen Pietersz. van de Venne - Fools Have the Most Fun - WGA24552.jpg, ''Fools Have the Most Fun''
File:Adriaen Pietersz. van de Venne - "Where There Are People Money May Be Made" - WGA24557.jpg, ''Where There Are People Money May Be Made'', 1652 ( private collection)
File:De zielenvisserij - Fishing for souls (Adriaen Pietersz. van de Venne).jpg, '' Fishing for Souls'' (''Zielenvisserij''), 1614, a satirical allegory of Protestant-Catholic struggles for souls during the Dutch Revolt ( Rijksmuseum)
File:Adriaen Pietersz. van de Venne - Landschap met figuren en een dorpskermis (Rijksmuseum).jpg, ''Landscape with figures''
File:1614 van de Venne Winter anagoria.JPG, ''Winter''

Notes

References

* Laurens J. Bol, series of articles on van de Venne in ''Tableau'', 1982–84.
* Filippo Baldinucci's Artists in biographies by Filippo Baldinucci, 1610–1670, p. 19
Google books

External links

Adriaen van de Venne
at the Netherlands Institute for Art History
Works and literature on Adriaen van de Venne''Vermeer and The Delft School''
a full text exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, which contains material on Adriaen van de Venne

{{DEFAULTSORT:Venne, Adriaen Van De
1580s births
1662 deaths
Dutch Golden Age painters
Dutch male painters
Painters from Delft
Painters from The Hague