Justus van Huysum, also spelled Huijsum, (July 8, 1659 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 ...
– April 23, 1716 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 ...
) 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.
Biography
Justus Van Huysum is the son of the decorative painter Jan van Huysum the Elder, who moved to Amsterdam from Huizum (near
Leeuwarden
Leeuwarden (; ; ; ) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in Friesland, Netherlands, with a population of 127,073 (2023). It is the provincial capital and seat of the Provin ...
,
Friesland
Friesland ( ; ; official ), historically and traditionally known as Frisia (), named after the Frisians, is a Provinces of the Netherlands, province of the Netherlands located in the country's northern part. It is situated west of Groningen (p ...
) between 1654 and 1657, where his boys Justus and Caspar Van Huysum, an engraver in adulthood, were born. Other sources says Justus’ father was a schoolteacher.
According to biographer of Dutch painters
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 ...
, when Justus turned 16, his father sent him to learn painting from
Nicolaes Berchem
Nicolaes Pieterszoon Berchem (1 October 1620 – 18 February 1683) was a highly esteemed and prolific Dutch Golden Age painter of pastoral landscapes, populated with mythological or biblical figures, but also of a number of allegories and genre ...
in 1675. Houbraken said he was very good at all sorts of painting, but excelled at flower painting, and founded a family business in painting flowers in vases. Another source says Justus “decorated rooms in many houses in Holland, and was assisted by his three sons.” He painted a wide variety of subjects and styles including portraits, landscapes, seascapes, and flowers, “and the versatility of his talent rendered him successful in all.” Justus’ flower paintings are described as having a “certain harshness” compared to his son Jan’s.
A picture by Justus is preserved in “the gallery of Brunswick” ikely Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum">Herzog_Anton_Ulrich_Museum.html" ;"title="ikely Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum">ikely Herzog Anton Ulrich Museumrepresenting "Orpheus and the Beasts in a wooded landscape", and here we have some explanation of his son Jan's fondness for landscapes of a conventional and Arcadia (utopia), Arcadian kind.
He married twice. He was the father of Jan van Huysum,
Jacob van Huysum
Jacob van Huysum (1688 – 1740) was an 18th-century botanical painter from the Dutch Republic who moved to the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1721.
Van Huysum was baptized 25 February 1688 in Amsterdam.Justus van Huysum the Younger (c. 1684–1706), a battle painter, by his first wife. His children by his second wife include the painters Josua van Huysum, Maria van Huysum, and Michiel van Huysum (~1704–after 1760).