Jan Pieterszoon Saenredam (c. 1565 – 6 April 1607) was a Dutch

Northern Mannerist Northern Mannerism is the form of Mannerism found in the visual arts north of the Alps in the 16th and early 17th centuries. Styles largely derived from Italian Mannerism were found in the Netherlands and elsewhere from around the mid-century, es ...

painter, printmaker in

engraving Engraving is the practice of incising a design on a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a Burin (engraving), burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or Glass engraving, glass ar ...

, and cartographer, and father of the painter of church interiors,

Pieter Jansz Saenredam Pieter Jansz. Saenredam (9 June 1597 – buried 31 May 1665) was a painter of the Dutch Golden Age, known for his distinctive paintings of whitewashed church interiors such as '' Interior of St Bavo's Church in Haarlem'' (1636) and '' Interior ...

. He is noted for the many allegorical images he created from

classical mythology Classical mythology, also known as Greco-Roman mythology or Greek and Roman mythology, is the collective body and study of myths from the ancient Greeks and ancient Romans. Mythology, along with philosophy and political thought, is one of the m ...

and the

Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...

Biography

Saenredam was born in

Zaandam Zaandam () is a city in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Holland, Netherlands. It is the main city of the municipality of Zaanstad and received City rights in the Netherlands, city rights in 1811. It is located on the river Zaan ...

. As an orphan, Jan lived with his uncle, Pieter de Jongh, a bailiff in

Assendelft Assendelft () is a town in the province of North Holland, Netherlands. It is a part of the municipality of Zaanstad. Assendelft was a separate municipality until 1974, when the municipality of Zaanstad was formed. However, Assendelft didn't wan ...

who first sent him to learn basket weaving as a profession. Het Gulden Cabinet p 498 Being an apt student, he was taught reading and writing, but astonished his teachers when he proved already so accomplished in this that he decorated his texts with curled decorations. An example of his penmanship could once be seen on display at Assum House near Heemskerk (residence of the Lord of Assendelft), which was his copywork of the ten commandments. Despite a decision that he follow a career in a trade or farming, he showed such artistic talent that he started as an apprentice cartographer. His first map is dated 1589 and is of the province of Holland, which could be seen in the city book of ''Guiccardijn'' (referring to a 1593 work by

Lodovico Guicciardini Lodovico Guicciardini (19 August 1521 – 22 March 1589) was an Italian writer and merchant from Florence who lived primarily in Antwerp from 1542 or earlier. He was the nephew of historian and diplomat Francesco Guicciardini. ''Description of ...

called ''The Description of the Low Countries''). He was visited by a lawyer called Spoorwater tot Assendelft, who convinced his guardian to let him apply his gift, and thus young Saenredam was sent to learn drawing from

Hendrick Goltzius Hendrick Goltzius (, ; born Goltz; January or February 1558 – 1 January 1617) was a German-born Dutch printmaker, draftsman, and painter. He was the leading Dutch engraver of the early Baroque period, or Northern Mannerism, lauded for his ...

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 ...

, where he became a master at the age of 24 (in 1589). After working for some time with Goltzius, he encountered the almost inevitable professional rivalry and jealousy, prompting his departure to work 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 ...

for two years. He then returned to Assendelft where he married and set up his own workshop. His first engraving was of the 12 apostles after a drawing by

Karel van Mander Karel van Mander (I) or Carel van Mander IKarel van Mander
at the Netherlands Institute for Art History ...

. Het Gulden Cabinet p 499 He produced prints after Goltzius,

Abraham Bloemaert Abraham Bloemaert (25 December 1566 – 27 January 1651) was a Dutch painter and printmaker who used etching and engraving. He initially worked in the style of the " Haarlem Mannerists", but by the beginning of the 17th-century altered his style ...

, Cornelis van Haarlem,

Polidoro da Caravaggio Polidoro Caldara, usually known as Polidoro da Caravaggio ( – 1543), was an Italians, Italian painter of the Mannerist period, "arguably the most gifted and certainly the least conventional of Raphael's pupils", who was best known for his now- ...

, and his own invention. He made over 170 plates of which the last one was a history of Diana and Callisto by Paulus Moreelse in 1606. Two plates he was working on, after drawings by Bartholomeus Spranger and Willem Thibaut, were finished later by Jacob Matham. According to the

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 ...

, he returned in 1595 from Amsterdam to Assendelft, where he married Anna Pauwelsdochter. Jan left his wife a sizeable estate as a result of lucrative investments in the

Dutch East India Company The United East India Company ( ; VOC ), commonly known as the Dutch East India Company, was a chartered company, chartered trading company and one of the first joint-stock companies in the world. Established on 20 March 1602 by the States Ge ...

.Rijksmuseum
He died of typhus on April 6, 1607, and was buried in the choir of the Saint Adolphus church at Assendelft, with the gravestone inscription ''Ioannis Saenredam Sculptoris celeberrimi''. He died in

, aged about 41.

References

External links

*
Spaightwood Galleries
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saenredam, Jan 1560s births 1607 deaths 16th-century Dutch engravers 17th-century Dutch engravers Artists from Zaanstad Renaissance engravers