Pieter Claesz Soutman (1593-1601 – 16 August 1657)Pieter Claesz. Soutman
in the RKD was a

Dutch Golden Age The Dutch Golden Age ( nl, Gouden Eeuw ) was a period in the history of the Netherlands, roughly spanning the era from 1588 (the birth of the Dutch Republic) to 1672 (the Rampjaar, "Disaster Year"), in which Dutch trade, science, and Dutch art, ...

painter and

printmaker Printmaking is the process of creating work of art, artworks by printing, normally on paper, but also on fabric, wood, metal, and other surfaces. "Traditional printmaking" normally covers only the process of creating prints using a hand proce ...

from Haarlem.

Biography

Soutman was born and died in

Haarlem Haarlem (; predecessor of ''Harlem'' in English) is a city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of North Holland. Haarlem is situated at the northern edge of the Randstad, one of the most populated metropoli ...

, where he was a contemporary of

Frans Hals Frans Hals the Elder (, , ; – 26 August 1666) was a Dutch Golden Age painter, chiefly of individual and group portraits and of genre works, who lived and worked in Haarlem. Hals played an important role in the evolution of 17th-century group ...

Hendrick Gerritsz Pot Hendrik Gerritsz Pot (c. 1580 – 15 October 1657 (buried)) was a Dutch Golden Age painter, who lived and painted in Haarlem, where he was an officer of the militia, or ''schutterij''. Dutch artist Frans Hals painted Pot in militia sash in ...

, and

Pieter Claesz Pieter Claesz (c. 1597 – 1 January 1660) was a Dutch Golden Age painter of still lifes. Biography He was born in Berchem, Belgium, near Antwerp, where he became a member of the Guild of St. Luke in 1620. He moved to Haarlem in 1620, where his ...

, and seems to have been influenced by all three, considering the various attributions of his paintings through the centuries. According to the RKD, he was the youngest of six children of the wealthy Catholic owner of the Haarlem beer brewery ''De Werelt''. According to Houbraken, Soutmann trained with

Peter Paul Rubens Sir Peter Paul Rubens (; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish artist and diplomat from the Duchy of Brabant in the Southern Netherlands (modern-day Belgium). He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque traditio ...

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

. He must have been successful, because

Samuel Ampzing Samuel Ampzing (24 June 1590 – 29 July 1632) was a Dutch minister, poet and purist. Biography Born to the minister Johannes Ampzing in Haarlem, in 1616 Samuel became a minister himself at Rijsoord in Strevelshoek, and in 1619 at the Sint-B ...

mentions him in his poem about Haarlem.Ampzing states he became the painter of the Prussian majesty due to his fame:Hoe zou hier ook de naam van Soutman zyn verzwegen, Die door zyn kloek penceel, zig heeft dien staat verkregen, Zig heeft door zyne Konst die eer en roem bereit, Dat hy de Schilder is der Pruische Majesteit. Probably during Prince Władysław Vasa's visit to Antwerp in 1624, he was recommended by Rubens as an excellent painter. That same year he went to Poland, where he was appointed royal court painter. Soutman was employed as a ''servitor'' of the king Sigismund III Vasa until 1628, when he returned to Haarlem. His family connections enabled him to become affiliated with the Catholic

Hofje Codde en Van Beresteijn The Hofje van Codde en Beresteyn is a hofje in Haarlem, Netherlands. The current building is from 1968 and is located on the J. Cuyperstraat, which is named for the architect who designed the Cathedral of Saint Bavo next door, Joseph Cuypers. Thi ...

. Today this is one hofje, but in his day it was two; the Hofje of Codde and the Hofje of Beresteijn. He was probably regent of the Codde hofje. Soutman became a respected portrait painter in Haarlem and won many commissions for group portraits, including lucrative ''

schutterstuk Schutterij () refers to a voluntary city guard or citizen militia in the medieval and early modern Netherlands, intended to protect the town or city from attack and act in case of revolt or fire. Their training grounds were often on open spaces w ...

ken''.

Legacy

One of his portraits that he painted for the Beresteijn family (regents of both the Beresteijn and Codde hofjes) was later sold as a

to the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...

in the 1860s, but this was not from deception, but ignorance on the part of the hofje regents. This sale was considered a scandal in the Dutch press at the time, and

Conrad Busken Huet Conrad Busken Huet (28 December 1826, The Hague – 1 May 1886, Paris) was a Dutch pastor, journalist and literary critic. Biography Busken Huet, son of a Hague civil servant, attended Gymnasium Haganum and studied theology at Leiden Universi ...

wrote that the government should keep this national treasure in the country (he was living in Haarlem at the time). Soutman's work hangs today in various museums, and in the

Huis ten Bosch Huis ten Bosch ( nl, Paleis Huis ten Bosch, ; English: "House in the Woods") is a royal palace in The Hague, Netherlands. It is one of three official residences of the Dutch monarch; the two others being the Noordeinde Palace in The Hague and ...

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

. His pupils were Cornelis Visscher, Jacob Louys (1595-na 1635), and Pieter van Sompel. Soutman Sigismund III Vasa in coronation robes.jpg, Portrait of

Sigismund III of Poland Sigismund III Vasa ( pl, Zygmunt III Waza, lt, Žygimantas Vaza; 20 June 1566 – 30 April 1632 N.S.) was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1587 to 1632 and, as Sigismund, King of Sweden and Grand Duke of Finland from 1592 to ...

in coronation robes, 1626 Portrait of the Wife of Alexander van der Capellen by Pieter Claesz Soutman.jpg, Portrait of the wife of Alexander van der Capellen, 1626 Pieter Claesz. Soutman - Portrait of a Woman.jpg, ''Portrait of an unknown woman'' ca. 1630 Pieter Soutman - Cloveniers Haarlem 1642.jpg, Civic guard (

) in Haarlem, 1642

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Soutman, Pieter 1590s births 1657 deaths Dutch Golden Age painters Dutch male painters Court painters of Polish kings Dutch expatriates in Poland Artists from Haarlem Painters from Haarlem

Biography

Legacy

See also

References