Janus, or Johannes Lutma the elder (

Emden Emden () is an Independent city (Germany), independent town and seaport in Lower Saxony in the north-west of Germany and lies on the River Ems (river), Ems, close to the Germany–Netherlands border, Netherlands border. It is the main town in t ...

, c. 1584 –

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 ...

, January 1669) was a well-known

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

silversmith A silversmith is a metalworker who crafts objects from silver. The terms ''silversmith'' and ''goldsmith'' are not exact synonyms, as the techniques, training, history, and guilds are (or were, at least) largely the same but differed in that t ...

Biography

He was a pupil of

Paulus van Vianen Paul van Vianen or Paulus Willemsz van Vianen (1570–1614) was a silversmith, medallist and sculptor of the Northern Netherlands, trained in Northern Mannerism but then important in developing the Baroque auricular style with his brother Adam ...

who was known for his

auricular style The auricular style or lobate style (Dutch: ''kwabstijl'', German: ''Ohrmuschelstil'') is a style of ornamental decoration, mainly found in Northern Europe in the first half of the 17th century, bridging Northern Mannerism and the Baroque. The st ...

in silver, so-called for its smooth, ear-like forms. After spending time in

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 ...

(c. 1615), Lutma came to Amsterdam in 1621 where he got engaged on 31 March 1623 to Mayken Roelants, and on 18 May 1638 to Saera de Bie.Johannes Lutma
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 ...

He was a friend of

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 ...

, who later etched a portrait of him. The portrait shown here was painted by

Jacob Adriaensz Backer Jacob Adriaensz Backer (1608 – 27 August 1651) was a Dutch Golden Age painter. He produced about 140 paintings in twenty years, including portraits, religious subjects, and mythological paintings. In his style, he was influenced by Wybrand d ...

. Lutma is best known for his choir-panel in the New Church of Amsterdam. A number of the designs of Lutma were later published in four series of prints, mainly by his sons

Jacob Jacob, later known as Israel, is a Hebrew patriarch of the Abrahamic religions. He first appears in the Torah, where he is described in the Book of Genesis as a son of Isaac and Rebecca. Accordingly, alongside his older fraternal twin brother E ...

and Johannes Lutma the Younger, more often known as Jan Lutma. Jan developed a distinct, if not very influential, technique of

stipple engraving Stipple engraving is a technique used to create tone in an Intaglio (printmaking), intaglio print by distributing a pattern of dots of various sizes and densities across the image. The pattern is created on the printing plate either in engraving ...

by making dots on the plate with a punch and hammer. Griffiths, Antony, ''Prints and Printmaking: An Introduction to the History and Techniques'', p 78, British Museum Press (in UK), 2nd ed., 1996 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 ...

of Amsterdam has several works of Johannes Lutma in its collection: two silver saltcontainers, partially gilded, a silver drinking-bowl and a silver pitcher and bowl with sea-motives. In the Amsterdam neighbourhood De Pijp, as well as

Schoonhoven Schoonhoven () is a city and was a former municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. Since 2015 it has been a part of the municipality of Krimpenerwaard, before it had been an independent municipality. The former mu ...

, there are streets named after him.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lutma, Johannes Dutch silversmiths Dutch Golden Age printmakers 1580s births 1669 deaths People from Emden 17th-century Dutch artists