Willem Pieterszoon Buytewech (1591/92 – September 23, 1624) 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 and etcher. He is one of the early specialists in the merry company type of subject in Dutch

genre painting Genre painting (or petit genre), a form of genre art, 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 can be attache ...

. His contemporaries named him “Gheestige Willem” (Jolly or spirited William).

Life

Buytewech was born and died in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

. He was the son of Pieter Jacobsz, a cobbler and candlemaker. He learned his trade in Haarlem, where he became a member of the artists' guild (

Haarlem Guild of St. Luke The Haarlem Guild of Saint Luke was first a Christian, and later a city Guild for various trades falling under the patron saints Luke the Evangelist and Saint Eligius. History During the lifetime of Geertgen tot Sint Jans, there was probably ...

) in 1612, together with

Hercules Segers Hercules Pieterszoon Seghers or Segers ( 1589 – 1638) was a Dutch painter and printmaker of the Dutch Golden Age. Segers is in fact the more common form in contemporary documents, and was used by the painter himself (modern use is about equall ...

and

Esaias van de Velde Esaias van de Velde (17 May 1587 (baptized) – 18 November 1630 (buried) ) was a Dutch landscape painter. Biography He was born in Amsterdam, where his Flemish father Hans had fled as a Protestant in 1585. He probably studied under his fathe ...

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 gro ...

, who was a member of this guild since 1610, had much influence on Buytenwech's work, as shown by the many drawings that the latter made after Hals's paintings. After his marriage on November 10, 1613, with Aeltje van Amerongen, of a patrician family, he returned to Rotterdam. There

Hendrik Martenszoon Sorgh Hendrik Martenszoon Sorgh (c. 1610 – buried 28 June 1670) was a Dutch Golden Age painter of genre works. Biography Born in Rotterdam, Sorgh became a pupil of David Teniers the Younger and Willem Pieterszoon Buytewech. Sorgh painted mostl ...

was one of his pupils. Buytewech was primarily a graphic artist, mostly of

landscapes A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or man-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes the p ...

and genre pieces, but occasionally also of biblical and allegorical themes. Of his paintings only eight have survived to this date, all genre pieces, most depicting merry companies. ''Merry Company on a Terrace'' (1616) is in the collection of the

Mauritshuis The Mauritshuis (; en, Maurice House) is an art museum in The Hague, Netherlands. The museum houses the Royal Cabinet of Paintings which consists of 854 objects, mostly Dutch Golden Age paintings. The collection contains works by Johannes Vermeer ...

, the Hague. ''Merry Company'' (1620) is in the

Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen Municipal Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen () is an art museum in Rotterdam in the Netherlands. The name of the museum is derived from the two most important collectors of Frans Jacob Otto Boijmans and Daniël George van Beuningen. It is located ...

in Rotterdam. He died at age 32 or 33 of unrecorded causes. His son Willem Willemsz Buytewech (1625–1670), born after his death, would become a painter as well. It is suggested that

Herman van Swanevelt Herman van Swanevelt (1603 – 1655) was a Dutch painter and etcher from the Baroque era. Life Herman was born in Woerden to a family of thriving artisans whose ancestors included the famous painter Lucas van Leyden. The identity of Swaneve ...

could have been his pupil.

References

External links

Gary Schwartz on the Merry Companies
* http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/bio/b/buytewec/biograph.html

Works and literature
at PubHist {{DEFAULTSORT:Buytewech, Willem Pietersz Dutch Golden Age painters Dutch male painters 1590s births 1624 deaths Painters from Rotterdam Painters from Haarlem