Paulus Potter (; 20 November 1625 (baptised) – 17 January 1654 (buried)) was a Dutch

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ...

who specialized in animals within landscapes, usually with a low vantage point. Before Potter died of

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in w ...

at the age of 28 he succeeded in producing about 100 paintings, working continuously.

Life

Paulus Potter was born in

Enkhuizen Enkhuizen () is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland and the region of West-Frisia. History Enkhuizen, like Hoorn and Amsterdam, was one of the harbor-towns of the VOC, from where overseas trade ...

. He was baptized on 20 November 1625. In 1628 his family moved to Leiden, and in 1631 to

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

, where young Paulus studied painting with his father,

Pieter Symonsz Potter Pieter Symonsz Potter (1597 in Enkhuizen – 1652 in Amsterdam), was a Dutch Golden Age painter. Biography According to Houbraken he was the city secretary of Enkhuizen, he was married to the daughter of Paulus Bertius and the father of the pai ...

.Liedtke, Walter A., Michiel Plomp, and Axel Rüger. 2001. ''Vermeer and the Delft school''. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art. p. 332. After his mother died, his father started an affair with the wife of Pieter Codde, also living in the fancy Sint Antoniesbreestraat. For some time his father was a manufacturer of gilded

leather Leather is a strong, flexible and durable material obtained from the tanning, or chemical treatment, of animal skins and hides to prevent decay. The most common leathers come from cattle, sheep, goats, equine animals, buffalo, pigs and ho ...

hangings outside the city walls. Potter became a member of the

Guild of Saint Luke The Guild of Saint Luke was the most common name for a city guild for painters and other artists in early modern Europe, especially in the Low Countries. They were named in honor of the Evangelist Luke, the patron saint of artists, who was id ...

in Delft, but by 1649, he moved to

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a list of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's ad ...

, next to Jan van Goyen. In July 1650, Potter married Adriana van Balckeneynde (1627-1690). His father-in-law was a leading building contractor in the Hague and introduced him to the Dutch elite. Amalia of Solms-Braunfels, a member of the stadholder's family and an art-lover, bought one of Potter's paintings, ''The Farmyard'', but some court ladies seemed to have advised against it. In May 1652, he returned to Amsterdam on invitation of

Nicolaes Tulp Nicolaes Tulp (9 October 1593 – 12 September 1674) was a Dutch surgeon and mayor of Amsterdam. Tulp was well known for his upstanding moral character and as the subject of Rembrandt's famous painting '' The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tul ...

, who owned a number of his paintings. Tulp was impressed by his civilized behavior and politeness and had Potter paint his son,

Dirck Tulp Dirck or Diederik Tulp (1624–1682) was the son of the surgeon professor Nicolaes Tulp and involved in the Dutch East India Company and the Civic guard. Dirck Tulp visited Moscovia with his father-in-law; he was painted in 1653 by Paulus Pot ...

, as a noble equestrian.Equestrian portrait of Dirk (Diederik) Tulp (1624-1682)
at the RKD Potter composed a will in January of 1653 and died a year later of

, two months after his 28th birthday. Paulus painted a self-portrait which was at Hackwood Park, Hampshire until 1998. It is now at Elibank House, Buckinghamshire.

Paintings

Potter's most famous painting is ''The Young Bull'' (circa 1647), and is not to be confused with his work ''The Bull''. ''The Young Bull'' was composed after drawings Potter made in nature, and is now located in Mauritshuis in

. Though this painting was criticized, it was greatly admired during the 19th century as an early example of

Romanticism Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate ...

. ''The Young Bull'' features as the canvas being studied in Mark Tansey's 1981 monochromatic oil on canvas ''The Innocent Eye Test''. File:Paulus Potter - Punishment of a Hunter.jpg, ''Punishment of a Hunter''
( 1647) File:Potter A shepherd with cows.jpg, ''Shepherd Boy with Cows'' (1647) File:Paulus Potter - Figures with Horses by a Stable - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Figures with Horses by a Stable'' (1647) File:Twee paarden in de wei bij een hek Rijksmuseum SK-C-205.jpeg, ''Two Horses in a Meadow near a Gate'' (1649) File:The Farmyard 1649 Paulus Potter.jpg, ''The Farmyard'', 1649, formerly known as ''The Pissing Cow'' from the collection of Amalia van Solms (1649) File:Paulus Potter - Two Pigs in a Sty - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Two Pigs in a Sty'' (1649) File:Potter, Paulus - Cattle and Sheep - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Cattle and Sheep''
(after 1650) File:Paulus Potter - Animals Resting in the Pasture.jpg, ''Cows Animals Resting in the Pasture'' (1650) File:Paulus Potter - Wolf-Hound - WGA18220.jpg, ''Wolf-Hound'' ( 1650–1652) File:The Piebald Horse - Paulus Potter - Dutch, about 1650 - 1654.jpg, ''The Piebald Horse'' ( 1650–1654) File:Paulus Potter - Vier koeien in de wei.jpg, ''Four Cows in a Meadow'' (1651) File:Cattle in a Meadow by Paulus Potter Mauritshuis 138.jpg, ''Cattle in a Meadow by Paulus Potter'' (1652) File:Paulus Potter - Four Bulls - WGA18208.jpg, ''Four Bulls'' (unknown) File:'Cattle in a Meadow' by Paulus Potter, 1652, oil on wood.JPG, ''Cattle in a Meadow'' (1652) File:Paulus Potter 002.jpg, ''Resting Herd'' (1652) File:Een patrijshond Rijksmuseum SK-C-279.jpeg, ''A spaniel'' (1653)

Memorials

Statue of Palus Potter at the Drommedaris in Enkhuizen

A statue of Potter (sketching a distant statue of a goat) was erected at the

Drommedaris The ''Drommedaris'' is the southern gateway of the city Enkhuizen. It is the best known building in Enkhuizen. Origin The building was erected as a defense work at the entrance to the Old Harbor, and was originally on the Westfriesian dike; th ...

in 1991.

References

External links

Artcyclopedia; Paulus Potter

Works and literature
at PubHist
Vermeer and The Delft School
an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on Paulus Potter
Dutch and Flemish paintings from the Hermitage
an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (available online as PDF), which contains material on Paulus Potter (cat. no. 21) {{DEFAULTSORT:Potter, Paulus 1625 births 1654 deaths Animal artists Dutch genre painters Dutch Golden Age painters Dutch male painters Painters from Delft People from Enkhuizen 17th-century deaths from tuberculosis Tuberculosis deaths in the Netherlands