Jan Griffier ( 1652 – 1718) was a

Dutch Golden Age The Dutch Golden Age ( ) was a period in the history of the Netherlands which roughly lasted from 1588, when the Dutch Republic was established, to 1672, when the '' Rampjaar'' occurred. During this period, Dutch trade, scientific development ...

painter who was active in England, where he was admitted to the London Company of Painter-Stainers in 1677.

Biography

Griffier 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 ...

and learned to paint landscapes and to engrave from Roelant Roghman. His birthdate is uncertain. According to Houbraken he was born in 1656, and according to English accounts he may have been older by up to 10 years, but in 1700 he was registered 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 ...

in the ''Album studiosorum'' of the university art academy there as being 48 years old and living on the ''Stadstimmerwerf''. He produced views of

Rhineland The Rhineland ( ; ; ; ) is a loosely defined area of Western Germany along the Rhine, chiefly Middle Rhine, its middle section. It is the main industrial heartland of Germany because of its many factories, and it has historic ties to the Holy ...

landscapes as well as of the English countryside, and returned to the Netherlands for a decade after ''ca'' 1695, but was engaged for at least two decades in England where he worked for the Dutch painter Jan Looten (1617/1618 – 1681). Griffier's work as a draughtsman reflects his training by Roghman; as an

etcher 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 types ...

, he is remembered for a series of plates of birds after Francis Barlow. File:Jan Griffier - Winter Scene with Skaters - Google Art Project.jpg, Winter Scene with Skaters File:JanGriffierPlaisir d'hiverDétailMuséeAnvers.jpg, Plaisir d'hiver Jan Griffier - Boy playing a violin - mezzotint

Jan Griffier - Boy playing a violin - mezzotint

His

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 reproduce portraits after Sir

Peter Lely Sir Peter Lely (14 September 1618 – 30 November 1680) was a painter of Dutch origin whose career was nearly all spent in England, where he became the dominant portrait painter to the court. He became a naturalised British subject and was kn ...

, Hendrik ter Brugghen, and Sir

Godfrey Kneller Sir Godfrey Kneller, 1st Baronet (born Gottfried Kniller; 8 August 1646 – 19 October 1723) was a German-born British painter. The leading Portrait painting, portraitist in England during the late Stuart period, Stuart and early Georgian eras ...

. His city views, invaluable topographical evidence, suggest that his travels in England were extensive. According to Houbraken he undertook a voyage by boat with his family to the Netherlands in 1695 that ended in shipwreck. All the paintings he had with him at that time were lost. He bought a houseboat in Rotterdam, which he then proceeded to use to move his family with him on his travels, continuing to make a living by painting landscapes. Eventually he undertook another channel crossing with this boat, but sent his family by a more seaworthy ship, since he was afraid of another shipwreck. This trip was successful and he died in London.

Legacy

Apart from the biographical sketch that Houbraken wrote in 1718, much of what is known of him in England has been transmitted by

Horace Walpole Horatio Walpole, 4th Earl of Orford (; 24 September 1717 – 2 March 1797), better known as Horace Walpole, was an English Whig politician, writer, historian and antiquarian. He had Strawberry Hill House built in Twickenham, southwest London ...

,Walpole, ''Anecdotes of Painting in England''. working from

George Vertue George Vertue (1684 – 24 July 1756) was an English engraver and antiquary, whose notebooks on British art of the first half of the 18th century are a valuable source for the period. Life Vertue was born in 1684 in St Martin-in-the-Fields ...

's notebooks. Griffier's sons Robert Griffier and Jan Griffier the Younger continued the family landscape tradition.

Notes

External links

*
National Maritime Museum, Greenwich: Jan Griffier, the ElderThe Art Fund
Purchases of Griffier paintings for UK museums * {{DEFAULTSORT:Griffier, Jan 1640s births 1718 deaths Painters from Amsterdam Dutch Golden Age painters Dutch male painters British Baroque painters