Pieter Aertsen

Background

Pieter Aertsen was born in 1508 in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Education

Aertsen was apprenticed with Allaert Claesz.

Career

Pieter Aertsen travelled to the Southern Netherlands and took up residence in Antwerp, first with his compatriot Jan Mandijn. In 1542 he became a citizen of Antwerp.

After beginning by painting religious works, in the 1550s Aertsen developed the painting of domestic scenes in which he reproduced articles of furniture, cooking utensils, and food with great flair and realism. His "Butcher's Shop, with the Flight into Egypt" (Uppsala, 1551) has been called the earliest example of Mannerist inversion of still life in Northern painting.

Aertsen returned to Amsterdam in 1555-1556.

Notable pupils who trained in his workshop included Aertsen's nephews, Joachim Beuckelaer and Huybrecht Beuckeleer.

Aertsen died on June 3, 1575 in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Achievements

• Pieter Aertsen is credited with the invention of the monumental genre scene, which combines still life and genre painting and often also includes a biblical scene in the background. His genre scenes were influential on later Flemish Baroque painting, Dutch still life painting and also in Italy.

Works

More photos

• painting

  • Butcher's Stall with the Flight into Egypt

  • Christ in the House of Martha and Mary

  • Apostles Peter and John

  • The Fat Kitchen. An Allegory

  • Market Scene

  • The Cook

  • Vendor of Fowl

  • Market woman at a vegetable stand

  • Christ and the Woman Taken in Adultery

  • The Egg Dance

  • Still-Life

  • Peasants by the Hearth

  • Cook in front of the Stove

  • Market with Christ and the Woman Taken in Adultery

  • Deeds of Christian Charity

  • Christ and the Adulteress

  • Portrait of Simon Marten Dircsz

Membership

Aertsen was a member of Antwerp's Guild of Saint Luke.

Connections

He was married to Kathelijne Beuckelaar, the daughter and sister of an Antwerp painter and aunt of Joachim Beuckelaer and Huybrecht Beuckeleer. Of the couple's eight children, three sons, Pieter, Aert, and Dirk became successful painters.

Spouse:

Kathelijne Beuckelaar

Son:

Pieter Aertsen

Son:

Aert Aertsen

Son:

Dirk Aertsen

nephew:

Joachim Beuckelaer

nephew:

Huybrecht Beuckeleer

teacher:

Allaert Claesz

References

• Pieter Aertsen Joachim Beuchelaer and the Rise of Secular Painting in the Context of the Reformation (Outstanding Dissertations in the Fine Arts)
• Pieter Aertsen: Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Niederländischen Kunst im XVI. Jahrhundert (Classic Reprint) (German Edition)
• Pieter Aertsen end de Wereld op zijn Kop (paperback, Dutch edition)