Adriaen van de Velde

Background

Adriaen van de Velde was born on November 30, 1636 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The son of Willem van de Velde the Elder, a well-known marine painter, and brother of Willem van de Velde the Younger, the marine painter.

Education

Adriaen' first teacher was his father, Willem van de Velde the Elder, a well-known marine painter. But Adriaen van de Velde did not want to become a marine painter, so he was trained in the studio of Jan Wijnants, the landscape painter, in Haarlem, Netherlands.

Career

Adriaen van de Velde worked in Amsterdam from 1657. He was employed by Philip Wouwerman to introduce figures into his landscape compositions and later rendered a similar service to Hobbema, Ruisdael, Verboom and other contemporary artists.

During his career, his favourite subjects were scenes of open pasture land, with sheep, cattle and goats, which he executed with dexterity, with much precision of touch and truth of draughtsmanship, and with clear silvery colouring. He also painted a few small winter scenes with skaters, and several religious subjects, such as the "Descent from the Cross", for a Roman Catholic hidden church in Amsterdam and "The Migration of Jacob" (1663, Wallace Collection).

In addition to his paintings, he executed about twenty etchings, several of which appear from their dates to have been done in his fourteenth year. They are distinguished by directness of method and by delicacy and certainty of touch.

Van de Velde lived in Kalverstraat, near the Regulierspoort. He died on January 21, 1672 in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Achievements

• Adriaen van de Velde was best known for his drawings of landscapes with animals. Nevertheless, among his most original paintings are beach scenes, such as “View of the Seashore” (Mauritshuis, The Hague).

Works

More photos

• painting

  • Bull

  • Battle

  • The Farm

  • Beach at Scheveningen

  • Seated Woman with a Basket and Livestock

  • Study of a Woman in Peasant Dress

  • The church of St. Severin in Cologne in a fictive setting

  • Animals by the River

  • Study of a Female Nude

  • The Annunciation

  • Amusement on the Ice

  • Agony in the Garden

  • Reclining Herdsman

  • The Beach at Scheveningen

  • View of the ancient castle of the Dukes of Burgundy in Brussels

  • Portrait of a couple with two children and a nursemaid in a landscape (detail)

  • Landscape with shepherds

  • The Martelaarsgracht in Amsterdam

  • A Classical Landscape

  • Milking a Cow

  • The Hut

  • A Cow and Three Sheep

  • Harteveld house on the Vecht in Utrecht

  • View of Oudezijds Voorburgwal with the Oude Kerk in Amsterdam

  • Cattle and Goats in a Meadow

  • Frozen Canal with Skaters and Hockey Players

  • Golfers on the Ice near Haarlem

  • Cows on a Meadow

  • The stone bridge

  • Cityscape with Drawbridge

  • View in Amsterdam

  • Seated Woman

  • Portrait of a couple with two children and a nursemaid in a landscape

  • Beach scene

  • The Hut (detail)

Connections

Father:

Willem van de Velde the Elder

Brother:

Willem van de Velde the Younger

teacher:

January Wijnants

colleague:

Philips Wouwerman

colleague:

Meindert Hobbema

colleague:

Jacob van Ruisdael

colleague:

Adriaen Hendriksz Verboom

References

• Adriaen Van de Velde: Dutch Master of Landscape
• Studien zu Adriaen van de Velde (1636-1672) (Berichte aus der Kunstgeschichte)