Dordrecht
Dordrecht (), historically known in English as Dordt (still colloquially used in Dutch, ) or Dort, is a city and municipality in the Western Netherlands, located in the province of South Holland. It is the province's fifth-largest city after R ...
– 27 April 1728,
Rotterdam
Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...
), was a
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 an ...
painter.
Biography
According to Houbraken he was a painter from the Hague who travelled to Rome and joined the
Bentvueghels
The Bentvueghels (Dutch for "Birds of a Feather") were a society of mostly Dutch and Flemish artists active in Rome from about 1620 to 1720. They are also known as the Schildersbent ("painters' clique").
Activities
The members, which include ...
who awarded him the derogatory nickname "Aap" (Ape).Fransois Beeldemaker, Hage in ''De groote schouburgh der Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen'' (1718) by Arnold Houbraken, courtesy of the
Digital library for Dutch literature
The Digital Library for Dutch Literature (Dutch: Digitale Bibliotheek voor de Nederlandse Letteren or DBNL) is a website (showing the abbreviation as dbnl) about Dutch language and Dutch literature. It contains thousands of literary texts, second ...
According to Jan van Gool, who continued Houbraken's work after his death, he was the son of
Johannes Beeldemaker
Adriaen Cornelisz. Beeldemaker (1618, Rotterdam – 1709, The Hague), was a Dutch Golden Age painter.
Biography
According to Jan van Gool he specialized in painting scenes of deer and boar hunts.François Beeldemaker Biography, page 289 in ''Nieuwe Schouburg'' (with painter index), (1750) by Jan van Gool, in the ''Institute of Dutch History'' He was the younger brother of Cornelis Beeldemaker and became a pupil of Willem Doudijns. He travelled to Rome and became a member of the Bentvueghels, but he was so unfriendly that an argument broke out among the bent members what to call him as nickname, and when someone cried out "Why are we arguing over such an ape?", the tempers were calmed by the idea of calling him "Aap" or ape. Later, after his return to the Hague, he became popular as an interior painter and made several notable decorations. He joined 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 ...
but was not popular there and everyone could understand why he had been given the name of ape. He later lost customers to
Augustinus Terwesten
Augustinus Terwesten or Augustinus Terwesten the Elder (4 May 1649 in The Hague – 21 January 1711 in Berlin) was a Dutch painter, draughtsman, printmaker and art educator. He specialized in portraits, architectural and historical themes. He w ...
who returned from Rome in 1677 and who painted interiors in a similar style, but qualitatively better.
According to the RKD his bentname was Aap and he was taught by his father Adriaen Cornelisz Beeldemaker (also known as Johannes), Doudijns, and Augustinus Terwesten.Frans Beeldemaker in the RKD He was the grandfather of the painter François Beeldemaker II, and joined the guild in 1687.