Paul Potter

Background

Paulus Potter was born on November 20, 1625 in Enkhuizen, Netherlands.

Education

He received his first training in painting from his father, Peter Potter, and later studied with Nicolas Moeyaert at Amsterdam.

Career

It is possible that Paulus Potter started his career as a painter in early 1640s in the city of Amsterdam. By 1646, he moved to Delft, a city in the province of Southern Holland and lived there till 1649.

He was patronized by Maurice, prince of Orange, for whom he painted the life-size picture of the " Young Bull, " now one of the most celebrated works in the gallery of the Hague.

His paintings are generally small; early in life, however, he attempted, but with ill success, to work on a monumental scale, as in the " Bear Hunt" at the Rijks Museum and the " Boar Hunt " of the Carstanjen collection, Berlin.

Even the famous " Equestrian Portrait of Tulp " in the Six collection, Amsterdam, is awkward and stiff and hard in handling.

His animals are designed with careful accuracy, while the landscape backgrounds are introduced with spirit and appropriateness.

His colour is clear and transparent, his execution firm and finished without being laboured.

His view of nature is purely objective and unemotional; he painted with the greatest directness and simplicity the things he saw before him, and his paintings of horses and cattle are so individualized that they become faithful portraits of the animals.

Among his finest works on a small scale are a cattle piece (1653) in the Due d'Arenberg's collection, and a similar, though earlier, picture in the Munich Pinakothek.

He worked with feverish application, as though he were aware of the short span of life that was granted him.

He executed a series of some twenty etchings, mainly of animals, which are simple and direct in method and handling.

Authentic paintings from his brush command very considerable prices.

Achievements

• ’The Young Bull’, painted in 1647, is said to be one of the best works of Paulus Potter. This life size painting created on canvas by oil offers detailed realism and is said to be one of the three best paintings of Netherlands. At the time of painting, Potter was only 22 years old.
  
  ‘Orpheus Charming the Beasts’ painted in 1650, is another of his major works. Critics have described this painting as his ‘excursion into the poetic world’. It shows Orpheus playing his lute surrounded by a horde of mesmerized animals.
  
  ’Figures with Horses by a Stable’ (1647), ‘Two Horses in a Meadow near a Gate’ (1649), ‘Two Pigs in a Sty’ (1649), ‘Wolf-Hound’ (1650–1652), ‘Cattle in a Meadow’ (1652), and ‘A Spaniel’ (1653) are few other major works by Paulus Potter. Though smaller in size, these paintings have also been appreciated by art lovers of all ages.

Connections

In 1650, Potter married Adriana. At the time of their marriage he was around 25 years old. He did not live long after the marriage.

Spouse:

Adriana

She was the daughter of Hague architect Balkeneynde.