Johannes Hubertus Leonardus de Haas (25 March 1832 – 4 August 1908) was a Dutch animal and landscape painter, and a peripheral figure of the
Hague School
The Hague School () is a group of artists who lived and worked in The Hague between 1860 and 1890. Their work was heavily influenced by the realist painters of the French Barbizon school. The painters of the Hague school generally made use of re ...
.
Born at
Hedel
Hedel () is a town in the Dutch province of Gelderland. It is a part of the municipality of Maasdriel, and lies about 7 km northwest of 's-Hertogenbosch.
Hedel was a separate municipality until 1999, when it was merged with Maasdriel.
In Wor ...
, De Haas spend his youth 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 ...
where he got his first art education at evening-classes at the Koninklijke Academie. Consequently, he moved to
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 was apprenticed to the artist
Pieter Frederik van Os
Pieter is a male given name, the Dutch form of Peter. The name has been one of the most common names in the Netherlands for centuries, but since the mid-twentieth century its popularity has dropped steadily, from almost 3000 per year in 1947 to ...
. During his stay in Haarlem he befriended
Paul Gabriël
Paul Joseph Constantin Gabriël or Paul Gabriël (5 July 1828 – 23 August 1903) was a painter, draftsman, watercolorist, and etcher who belonged to the Hague School.
Biography
Gabriël was born in Amsterdam, the son of the sculptor and paint ...
and
Hendrik Dirk Kruseman Van Elten who were also studying with Van Os.
In 1853, together with his two friends, De Haas decided to go to
Oosterbeek
Oosterbeek is a village in the eastern part of Netherlands. It is located in the municipality of Renkum in the province of Gelderland, about west of Arnhem.
The oldest part of Oosterbeek is the Benedendorp (Lower Village), on the northern bank ...
. Here they came into contact with the influential landscape painter
Johannes Warnardus Bilders and the group of painters which had gathered around him, many of whom would later be part of the Hague School. De Haas also met his future wife in Oosterbeek, Bilders' daughter, Caroline. In 1855 he received good reviews for his pictures that were exhibited in Paris from the noted art critic
Jean Baptiste Gustave Planche
Jean Baptiste Gustave Planche (16 February 1808 – 18 September 1857) was a French art and literary critic.
Life and career
Already in his time as a medical student, Planche frequented artistic circles. This did nothing to promote the success of ...
.
In 1857 De Haas first went to
Brussels
Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...
, where he became friends with
Willem Roelofs
Willem Roelofs (10 March 1822 – 12 May 1897) was a Dutch painter, water-colourist, etcher, lithographer and draughtsman. Roelofs was one of the forerunners of the Dutch Revival art, after the Romantic Classicism of the beginning of the 19th cent ...
. De Haas frequently returned to the Netherlands and Oosterbeek for inspiration and Caroline. From 1860 his friend Gabriël also lived in Brussels, and De Haas often painted cattle in the landscapes of both Roelofs and Gabriel, fitting in perfectly with both their styles. In 1860 he won the gold medal at the exhibition of
Utrecht
Utrecht ( ; ; ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city of the Netherlands, as well as the capital and the most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Utrecht (province), Utrecht. The ...
.
From 1861 until 1869 De Haas is permanently settled in Brussels, painting mainly on the coasts of
Flanders
Flanders ( or ; ) is the Dutch language, Dutch-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, la ...
and
Picardie
Picardy (; Picard and , , ) is a historical and cultural territory and a former administrative region located in northern France. The first mentions of this province date back to the Middle Ages: it gained its first official recognition in the ...
in northern France. He married Caroline Bilders in 1862, and in 1864 they are briefly joined by her brother, the promising painter
Gerard Bilders. In 1865 Caroline dies at the age of 24 of tuberculosis, leaving him with a young son. During his stay in Brussels De Haas is instrumental in passing on the style of the
Barbizon school to the painters at Oosterbeek.

In 1869 he received gold medals for his work at the exhibitions in
Munich
Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...
. At this time he befriends the future prince regent of Bavaria,
Luitpold. This friendship provides him with many opportunities to contribute to exhibitions in
Bavaria
Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...
and later the
German Empire
The German Empire (),; ; World Book, Inc. ''The World Book dictionary, Volume 1''. World Book, Inc., 2003. p. 572. States that Deutsches Reich translates as "German Realm" and was a former official name of Germany. also referred to as Imperia ...
. From 1888 he was responsible for the selection of the Dutch entries to the Munich exhibition. This position he antagonised many young Dutch painters for his conservative choices.
["De Haagse School": Ronald de Leeuw, p. 58] In 1892 he was chosen by
Queen Emma to make a selection from the paintings from the royal collection for an exhibition at the
Alte Pinakothek
The Alte Pinakothek (, ''Old Pinakothek'') is an art museum located in the Kunstareal area in Munich, Germany. It is one of the oldest galleries in the world and houses a significant collection of Old Master paintings. The name Alte (Old) Pin ...
in Munich. De Haas died on 4 August 1908 in
Königswinter
Königswinter (; ; Low Franconian: ) is a town and summer resort in the Rhein-Sieg district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.
Geography
Königswinter is situated on the right bank of the Rhine, opposite Bad Godesberg, at the foot of the ...
.
Notes
Bibliography
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Haas, Johannes Hubertus Leonardus De
1832 births
1908 deaths
People from Maasdriel
Hague School
19th-century Dutch painters
Dutch male painters
19th-century Dutch male artists