Hermanus Numan (1744 – 9 March 1820) was a Dutch painter, draftsman, pastellist, etcher, engraver, watercolorist, set painter, decorator (interiors), art theorist, and publisher.Hermanus Numan
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 ...

Numan was born in

Ezinge Ezinge ( or ) is a village in the Netherlands, Dutch province of Groningen (province), Groningen. It is located in the municipality of Westerkwartier (municipality), Westerkwartier, about 15 km northwest of the city of Groningen (city), Gron ...

Winsum Winsum (; ) is a town and a former municipality in the northeastern Netherlands. On 1 January 2019 the municipality merged with the municipalities of Bedum, De Marne and Eemsmond to form the new municipality Het Hogeland. The town of Winsum was ...

. Between 1759 and 1762 he worked with his father in a

lacquerware Lacquerware are objects decoratively covered with lacquer. Lacquerware includes small or large containers, tableware, a variety of small objects carried by people, and larger objects such as furniture and even coffins painted with lacquer. Before ...

factory in

Groningen Groningen ( , ; ; or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen (province), Groningen province in the Netherlands. Dubbed the "capital of the north", Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of ...

. From 1762 to 1766 he apprenticed with Jan Augustini and worked alongside

Egbert van Drielst Egbert van Drielst (Groningen (city), Groningen, 12 March 1745 – Amsterdam, 4 June 1818) began his study of the painting in a factory in Groningen (city), Groningen which produced mainly lacquered objects. He soon went to Haarlem, where h ...

Haarlem Haarlem (; predecessor of ''Harlem'' in English language, English) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the Provinces of the Nether ...

producing decorative wallpaper. He then returned to Groningen and worked for a while as a portraitist. In 1768 he traveled to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

where he studied engraving. Numan moved to Amsterdam, where he continued to work and study for the rest of his life. In 1771 he studied under Jurriaan Andriessen at the '' Stadstekenacademie'' (City Drawing School). Numan married Anna Maria van Sterkenburg, and later became a member of the

Felix Meritis Felix Meritis ("Happy through Merit") is the name of an intellectual society in Amsterdam, but subsequently used for the building they built for themselves on the Keizersgracht. History It was built according to a winning design by the arc ...

artist community. His subjects were primarily landscapes,

genre art Genre art is the pictorial representation in any of various media of scenes or events from everyday life, such as markets, domestic settings, interiors, parties, inn scenes, work, and street scenes. Such representations (also called genre works, ...

, and portraits. He is also known as a copyist, not only through his engravings, but also copies of paintings in Amsterdam collections. In 1808 he became fourth class member of the Royal Institute of the Netherlands. File:Hermanus Numan - IJsvermaak op de stadsgracht buiten de Heiligewegspoort (1808).jpg, ''The ice in the moat outside the Heiligeweg Gate'' by Hermanus Numan,

Rijksmuseum 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 S ...

, 1808 File:Jan van Kessel (1641-1680) - De Heiligewegspoort te Amsterdam in de winter.jpg, Original painting by Jan van Kessel, Rijksmuseum, 1660–80 File:Prent, overzicht - Amsterdam - 20011069 - RCE.jpg, Drawing in 1808 by Numan in Amsterdam archives

References

1744 births 1820 deaths Dutch engravers Dutch draughtsmen 18th-century Dutch painters 18th-century Dutch male artists 19th-century Dutch painters Dutch male painters Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences People from Winsum 19th-century Dutch male artists {{Netherlands-artist-stub