Willem Hendrickszoon de Keyser (1603 – after 1680) 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 ...

architect and sculptor primarily active 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 ...

and London. He designed the Oudezijds Huiszittenhuis in Amsterdam and the Crackstate in

Heerenveen Heerenveen (, ) is a town and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Friesland (Fryslân), in the Northern Netherlands. In 2021, the town had a population of 29,790 (1 January) while the m ...

, among others. Both buildings have attained ''

rijksmonument A (, ) is a national heritage site of the Netherlands, listed by the agency Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed (RCE) acting for the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. At the end of February 2015, the Netherlands had 61,822 l ...

'' status.Drs. Minne Dijkstra, "Poortjes van Amsterdam 1571 – 1782: Een inventarisatie van historische poortjes in het Centrum van de stad", juni 2008 (bijgewerkt mei 2009)
(Dutch) He also sculpted

relief Relief is a sculpture, sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces remain attached to a solid background of the same material. The term ''wikt:relief, relief'' is from the Latin verb , to raise (). To create a sculpture in relief is to give ...

s for Amsterdam's new town hall (now the

Royal Palace This is a list of royal palaces, sorted by continent. Africa Americas Asia Europe Oceania {, class="wikitable" width="95%" , - bgcolor="white" !align=center, Residence !align=center, Photo !align=center, City !align=cen ...

) and for the monumental tombs of the Dutch naval heroes

Maarten Tromp Maarten Harpertszoon Tromp or Maarten van Tromp (23 April 1598 – 31 July 1653) was an army general and admiral in the Dutch navy during much of the Eighty Years' War and throughout the First Anglo-Dutch War. Son of a ship's captain, Tromp spe ...

Michiel de Ruyter Michiel Adriaenszoon de Ruyter (; 24 March 1607 – 29 April 1676) was a Dutch States Navy officer. His achievements with the Dutch navy during the Anglo-Dutch Wars earned him the reputation as one of the most skilled naval commanders in ...

, and

Jan van Galen Johan "Jan" van Galen (1604 – 23 March 1653) was a Commodore of the Republic of the Seven United Provinces of the Netherlands. he participated in the First Anglo-Dutch War. Biography Johan van Galen was born in Essen. He fought in the ...

. The relief adorning Tromp's tomb depicts the

Battle of Scheveningen The Battle of Scheveningen was the final naval battle of the First Anglo-Dutch War. It took place on July 31st 1653 between the fleets of the Commonwealth of England and the Dutch Republic. The Dutch fleet suffered heavy losses. Background A ...

."Grafmonument Maarten Tromp in restauratie", Oude en Nieuwe Kerk Delft
(Dutch)
(Dutch)

Biography

Willem de Keyser was a son of the prominent Amsterdam architect

Hendrick de Keyser Hendrick de Keyser (15 May 1565 – 15 May 1621) was a Dutch sculptor, merchant in Belgium bluestone, and architect who was instrumental in establishing a late Renaissance form of Mannerism changing into Baroque. Most of his works appeared in Ams ...

. He was the brother of architect

Pieter de Keyser Pieter de Keyser (c.1595 – 15 September 1676 (buried)) was a Dutch Golden Age architect (''bouwmeester'') and sculptor. He followed in the footsteps of his father Hendrick de Keyser and completed a number of Hendrick de Keyser's buildings a ...

(1595–1676), sculptor Hendrick de Keyser II (the Younger; 1613–1665), and painter

Thomas de Keyser Thomas de Keyser (c. 1596–1667) was a Dutch portrait painter and a dealer in Belgium bluestone and stone mason. He was the most in-demand portrait painter in the Netherlands until the 1630s, when Rembrandt eclipsed him in popularity. Rembra ...

(c. 1596–1667). Around 1623 he left Amsterdam to settle in London, where he found employment with his brother-in-law, the English architect

Nicholas Stone Nicholas Stone (1586/87 – 24 August 1647) was an England, English sculpture, sculptor and architect. In 1619 he was appointed master-mason to James I of England, James I, and in 1626 to Charles I of England, Charles I. During his ca ...

, who had married Willem's sister Maria. Stone had been charged with the construction of a number of buildings in classical style designed by

Inigo Jones Inigo Jones (15 July 1573 – 21 June 1652) was an English architect who was the first significant Architecture of England, architect in England in the early modern era and the first to employ Vitruvius, Vitruvian rules of proportion and symmet ...

for King

Charles I of England Charles I (19 November 1600 – 30 January 1649) was King of Kingdom of England, England, Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland, and Kingdom of Ireland, Ireland from 27 March 1625 until Execution of Charles I, his execution in 1649. Charles was born ...

. During his stay in England, De Keyser married Walburga Parker. He remained in England until 1640, when the turbulent English political situation forced him to return to Amsterdam.P.C. Molhuysen en P.J. Blok, "Keyser, Willem Hendrikszoon de", in P.C. Molhuysen en P.J. Blok (red.), ''Nieuw Nederlandsch biografisch woordenboek''. Deel 2. A.W. Sijthoff, Leiden 1912
(Dutch) On 13 August 1640 he was accepted as a master into the Amsterdam masons'

guild A guild ( ) is an association of artisans and merchants who oversee the practice of their craft/trade in a particular territory. The earliest types of guild formed as organizations of tradespeople belonging to a professional association. They so ...

, and on 3 December 1647 the city government appointed him master mason of the city (''stadsmeestersteenhouwer''). He assisted

Jacob van Campen Jacob van Campen (2 February 1596 — 13 September 1657) was a Dutch artist and architect of the Golden Age. Life He was born into a wealthy family at Haarlem and spent his youth in his hometown. Being of noble birth and with time on his han ...

in designing and building Amsterdam's grand new town hall (now the

) as well as the

spire A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spire ...

of the adjacent Nieuwe Kerk church. On 20 February 1653 he was dismissed from his post as city mason on charges of fraud. De Keyser was alleged to have altered invoices and paid salaries to persons who were not actually employed.A.W. Weissman, "Symon Bosboom", ''Oud-Holland'', Vol. 25, Nr. 1, pp. 1–8, 1907
(Dutch) Van Campen nevertheless requested his services as a sculptor for the monumental tomb of

Delft Delft () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, Netherlands. It is located between Rotterdam, to the southeast, ...

's Oude Kerk church and the tomb of

in the Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam. In 1658 he declared bankruptcy and left again for England. He was still living in England in 1674, but married in the Hague. He must have returned to Amsterdam not long thereafter, as he was working in 1678 on a monumental tomb for

in the Nieuwe Kerk, over which he brought a case to court in 1680. It is not known when and where he died.

References

Sources

Willem de Keyser
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 {{DEFAULTSORT:Keyser, Willem de 1603 births Year of death missing Dutch Golden Age architects Renaissance architects Dutch Golden Age sculptors Dutch male sculptors Architects from Amsterdam Dutch Baroque architects