Paulus en Barnabas te Lystra door het volk als goden vereerd Rijksmuseum SK-A-1586

Jacob Symonsz. Pynas (1592 or 1593 – after 1650) was a

Dutch Golden Age painter Dutch Golden Age painting is the painting of the Dutch Golden Age, a period in Dutch history roughly spanning the 17th century, during and after the later part of the Eighty Years' War (1568–1648) for Dutch independence. The new Dutch Republi ...

and draughtsman. He is best known for having briefly taught the painter Rembrandt in 1625.

Biography

Pynas was born in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

in 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 ...

in 1592 or 1593. He was one of nine children born to Symon Jansz. Brouwer (), a wealthy Catholic merchant from

Alkmaar Alkmaar () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands, located in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Holland. Alkmaar is well known fo ...

, and Oude Neel Jacobsdr van Harencarspel. Symon Brouwer adopted the name Pynas (, ' pinnance') in 1594 after purchasing a property in the center of Amsterdam called 'At the Sign of the Pinnance'. According to

Arnold Houbraken Arnold Houbraken (28 March 1660 – 14 October 1719) was a Dutch people, Dutch Painting, painter and writer from Dordrecht, now remembered mainly as a biographer of Dutch Golden Age painters. Life Houbraken was sent first to learn ''threadt ...

, a contemporary engraver and biographer,

Rembrandt Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (; ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), mononymously known as Rembrandt was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker, and Drawing, draughtsman. He is generally considered one of the greatest visual artists in ...

studied with Pynas for a few months in 1625 following his apprenticeship with the painter

Pieter Lastman Pieter Lastman (1583–1633) was a Dutch painter. Lastman is considered important because of his work as a painter of history pieces and because his pupils included Rembrandt and Jan Lievens. In his paintings Lastman paid careful attention to ...

before opening his own studio in

Leiden Leiden ( ; ; in English language, English and Archaism, archaic Dutch language, Dutch also Leyden) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Nethe ...

. According to the RKD he was the brother of Jan Pynas who travelled to Italy.Jacob Symonsz. Pynas
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 ...

Their sister Meynsge married the artist Jan Tengnagel in 1611. Though Jacob is known for scenes of Italy, these paintings could have been based on sketches brought back by his brother Jan and it is not certain that Jacob travelled to Italy. Pynas became a citizen of Delft in 1631 and joined the St. Luke's Guild the following year. He remained there until 1639 when he returned to Amsterdam. He became the teacher of Bartholomeus Breenberg. The Pynas brothers were grouped within Dutch artists called the Pre-Rembrandtists. Their work is close in style to the painter

Adam Elsheimer Adam Elsheimer (18 March 1578 – 11 December 1610) was a German artist working in Rome, who died at only thirty-two, but was very influential in the early 17th century in the field of Baroque paintings. His relatively few paintings were sma ...

, and there has been a history of mis-attribution between the three, where the Pynas brothers are known to have signed their works "J. Pynas."Kren and Marx, Comments on ''Landscape with Mercury and Battus'' at the Web Gallery of Art
/ref> Pynas died sometime after 1650 in Amsterdam.

Selected works

* 1618 – ''Mercury and Herse'', Oil on Copper, (

Uffizi Gallery The Uffizi Gallery ( ; , ) is a prominent art museum adjacent to the Piazza della Signoria in the Historic Centre of Florence in the region of Tuscany, Italy. One of the most important Italian museums and the most visited, it is also one of ...

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

) * 1618 – ''Landscape with Mercury and Battus'', Oil on Canvas, (Wiener collection,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

) * 1628 – ''Mountain Landscape with Narcissus'', Oil on Wood, (

National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of more than 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current di ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

br>
* 17th century – ''Paul and Barnabas at Lystra, Oil on Wood, (

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

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' * 17th century – ''Sacrifice of Isaac'', Pen, ink and watercolour on paper, (Courtauld Institute of Art,

br>
* 17th century – ''Sacrifice of Gideon'', Watercolour and chalk on paper, (Courtauld Institute of Art,

br>
* 17th century – ''Christ and the lawyer'', Chalk on paper, (Courtauld Institute of Art,

br>
* 17th century – ''Apollo and Daphne'', Pen and Ink on paper, (Courtauld Institute of Art,

br>
* 17th century – ''The Good Samaritan'', Oil on Copper, (

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world. It is located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement of Paris, 1st arron ...

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 ...

) du Musée Jeanne d'Aboville de La Fère, dans l'Aisne. * 17th century – ''The Flight into Egypt'', Oil, (

) * 17th century – ''The Canaanite woman kissing the bottom of Jesus's robe'', drawing, (

) * 17th century – ''Landscape with Juno, Minerva, Venus, Paris and Cupid'', Ink drawing, (

)

Gallery

Paintings

File:Paul and Barnabas at Lystra MET DP133560.jpg, ''Paul and Barnabas at Lystra'' (1620s) File:Jacob Symonsz. Pynas - Jupiter and Io.jpg, ''Jupiter and Io''

Drawings

File:Ronde toren en gebouwen, RP-T-1883-A-226.jpg, ''A Round Tower and Buildings'' (1616) File:Jacob Symonsz Pynas - Heads of Orientals - NMH 114-1866 - Nationalmuseum.jpg, ''Heads of Orientals'' File:De heilige Paulus, zittend aan een tafel, RP-T-1913-168.jpg, alt=

References

External links

Works at WGA

Jacob Pynas
at PubHist
Jacob Symonsz. Pynas
on

Artnet Artnet.com is an art market website. It is operated by Artnet Worldwide Corporation, which has headquarters in New York City. It is owned by Artnet AG, a German publicly-traded company based in Berlin that is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Ex ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pynas, Jacob Dutch Golden Age painters Dutch male painters 1590s births 17th-century deaths Painters from Amsterdam