Pieter Quast Soldiers Gambling with Dice

Pieter Jansz. Quast (bap. 17 April 1605 – buried 29 May 1647) was a

Dutch Golden Age painter Dutch Golden Age painting is the painting of the Dutch Golden Age, a period in Dutch history roughly spanning the 17th century, during and after the later part of the Eighty Years' War (1568–1648) for Dutch independence. The new Dutch Republi ...

, draughtsman of portraits and sculptor.

Life

According to the Ecartico website, Pieter Jansz Quast (brush), was the son of Jan Sijmensz, a barge master and Sybrich Gerritsdr both from Emden who married in 1603. He grew up near

Zeedijk Zeedijk (''English'': "Sea Levee, dike") is a street in the old centre of Amsterdam. The street is the northern and eastern boundary of De Wallen red-light district and runs between Prins Hendrikkade and Nieuwmarkt. Historically an area riddled ...

. On 29 June 1632 he promised to marry in the village of Sloten near Amsterdam Annetje Splinters, a flower painter from The Hague. She sued him for breaking his marriage vows and forced him to marry her half a year later. They moved to

The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...

where he was admitted to the local

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 iden ...

in 1634.Quast, Pieter at 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 ...

databases

His time in The Hague and Amsterdam is marked by constantly moving to poorer quarters, bankruptcy and participation in illegal dice-games. In 1639 he collaborated with Jan Stampioen the math teacher of

William II of Orange William II ( Dutch: ''Willem II''; 27 May 1626 – 6 November 1650) was sovereign Prince of Orange and Stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, Overijssel and Groningen in the United Provinces of the Netherlands from 14 March 1647 un ...

, who was also painted by Quast. He competed with

Pieter Codde Pieter Jacobsz Codde (December 11, 1599 – October 12, 1678) was a Dutch painter of genre works, guardroom scenes and portraits. Life Codde was a technically skilled painter. He is said to have studied with Frans Hals, but it is more likely ...

and

Willem Duyster Willem Cornelisz Duyster (1599–1635) was a Dutch Golden Age painter from Amsterdam, best known for his "guardroom scenes" (''cortegaarddje''), genre paintings showing the military life. Biography According to the Netherlands Institute for Art ...

who had a similar style and was influenced

Adriaen Brouwer Adriaen Brouwer ( – January 1638) was a Flemish painter active in Flanders and the Dutch Republic in the first half of the 17th century.satire Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of exposin ...

and

caricature A caricature is a rendered image showing the features of its subject in a simplified or exaggerated way through sketching, pencil strokes, or other artistic drawings (compare to: cartoon). Caricatures can be either insulting or complimentary, ...

. However the young couple faced a financially bumpy life, with several disturbing happenings due to Annetje's unruly character. The most imagining scene Annetje's face being mutilated by Gaspar Roebergen with the base of a smashed ("Roemer") glass in their home at the

Kalverstraat The Kalverstraat (, ) is a busy shopping street of Amsterdam, the capital of the Netherlands. The street runs roughly North-South for about 750 meters, from Dam Square to Muntplein square. The Kalverstraat is the most expensive shopping stree ...

after she insulted him having visited numerous prostitutes. The quarrel had to do with the rent, which he collected. At times he collaborated with

Herman Doomer Herman Doomer or Hermann Dommers (1595 – 14 March 1650) was a Dutch Golden Age furniture and frame-maker who is best known today for his portrait by Rembrandt. Life He was born in Anrath, near Venlo, and married Baertje Martens from Naarden in ...

, a furniture maker, and

Salomon Savery Salomon Savery (1594–1683) was an engraver from the Dutch Republic. Biography Savery was born in Amsterdam. According to the RKD he was the son of Jacob Savery, brother to Pieter, Hans II and Jacob II, and nephew of Hans I and Roelant ...

, an engraver. His pupils were

Jan Jansz Buesem Jan Jansz. Buesem or Besem or Beusemen (1599/1600 – 1649) was a Dutch Golden Age painter. He was a pupil of Pieter Jansz Quast around 1630.Jan Jansz. Buesem in the RKD He is known for genre works, church interiors, and still life paintings. R ...

and

Dirck Cornelis de Hooch Dirk Cornelis de Hooch (1613–1651) was a 17th-century Dutch portrait painter, who lived and worked in The Hague (the Netherlands). Born in 1613 at The Hague, he was a son of a Dutch bailiff, Cornelis de Hooch and his wife Jannetje Dirx van ...

. He was not only baptized but also buried in the

Nieuwe Kerk, Amsterdam The Nieuwe Kerk (, ) is a 15th-century church in Amsterdam located on Dam Square, next to the Royal Palace. Originally a Roman Catholic church, it became a Dutch Reformed Church church in 1578. It now belongs to the Protestant Church in the Nethe ...

. It is questionable he died in poverty. After her husband's death, Anna Splinters returned to The Hague, with two daughters. There she had a new house built on Paviljoensgracht, which she rented out. In 1650 she married the Leiden painter Jacob van Spreeuwen. In 1659 she died at Lindengracht in the

Jordaan The Jordaan () is a neighbourhood of the city of Amsterdam, Netherlands. It is part of the Boroughs of Amsterdam, borough of Amsterdam-Centrum. The area is bordered by the Singelgracht canal and the neighbourhood of Frederik Hendrikbuurt to the ...

Works

Mostly producing small social

genre painting Genre painting (or petit genre) is the painting of genre art, which depicts aspects of everyday life by portraying ordinary people engaged in common activities. One common definition of a genre scene is that it shows figures to whom no identity ca ...

s with humorous, cartoon-like features, ranging from elegant

merry companies Merry company is the term in art history for a painting, usually from the 17th century, showing a small group of people enjoying themselves, usually seated with drinks, and often music-making. These scenes are a very common type of genre painting ...

guardroom scene Merry company is the term in art history for a painting, usually from the 17th century, showing a small group of people enjoying themselves, usually seated with drinks, and often music-making. These scenes are a very common type of genre painting ...

s with officers and (most numerous) groups of peasants or beggars, in a variety of styles which can be related to those of leading artists in these genres, but with personal aspects in the colouring and style. They "are heavily and powerfully rendered in warm shades of brown, set off by strong local colouring in the principal figures. His successful peasant scenes are characterized by the use of strong

chiaroscuro In art, chiaroscuro ( , ; ) is the use of strong contrasts between light and dark, usually bold contrasts affecting a whole composition. It is also a technical term used by artists and art historians for the use of contrasts of light to ach ...

and a gentle, harmonious palette. The caricatural quality of Quast’s peasants recalls the work of his fellow-resident of The Hague,

Adriaen van de Venne Adriaen Pietersz van de Venne (1589 – 12 November 1662), was a versatile Dutch Golden Age painter of allegories, genre subjects, and portraits, as well as a miniaturist, book illustrator, designer of political satires, and versifier. Bio ...

, but Quast’s looser style and many of his individual types are closer to the paintings of

Adriaen Brouwer Adriaen Brouwer ( – January 1638) was a Flemish painter active in Flanders and the Dutch Republic in the first half of the 17th century.Adriaen van Ostade Adriaen van Ostade (baptized as Adriaen Jansz Hendricx 10 December 1610 – buried 2 May 1685) was a Dutch Golden Age painter of genre works, showing everyday life of ordinary men and women. Life According to Arnold Houbraken, he and his br ...

, to whom Quast’s best work has sometimes been ascribed". Quast was influenced by the French engrapher

Jacques Callot Jacques Callot (; – 1635) was a baroque printmaker and drawing, draftsman from the Duchy of Lorraine. He is an important person in the development of the old master print. He made more than 1,400 etchings that chronicled the life of his peri ...

and even called the Dutch Callot. With his caricatured images on often small panels, Quast provided commentary on the Golden Age. He produced finished drawings for sale, often on

parchment Parchment is a writing material made from specially prepared Tanning (leather), untanned skins of animals—primarily sheep, calves and goats. It has been used as a writing medium in West Asia and Europe for more than two millennia. By AD 400 ...

, and these included landscapes, cityscapes and biblical scenes. Some of his works were engraved, likely by

References

Sources

Catalogue raisonné du cabinet d'estampes de feu Monsieur Winckler (1805)
* * Leeuwenberg, J. “Beeldhouwwerk van de Schilder Pieter Quast.” Bulletin van Het Rijksmuseum, vol. 14, no. 2, 1966, pp. 60–64. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/40381441. Accessed 1 Mar. 2023.
Barbara Ann Stanton-Hirst (1978) ''The influence of the theatre on the works of Pieter Jansz. Quast''
* Jessica Roeders (2004) "Voorts den teekeningen, dien gij speuren zult, zijn gemaekt van den geestigen Pieter Quast". Een oeuvrebeschijving. Doctoraalscriptie UvA.

External links

Gallery of worksBiography

Collection Rijksmuseum

Collection Rijksmuseum
{{DEFAULTSORT:Quast, Pieter 1605 births 1647 deaths Dutch draughtsmen ! Dutch Golden Age painters Dutch male painters Engravers from Amsterdam Painters from Amsterdam Dutch Golden Age printmakers 17th-century engravers