This biography from the Archives of AskART:
| Please note: Artists not classified as American in our database may have limited biographical data
compared to the extensive information about American artists.
 An art writer, painter, draughtsman, engraver, book illustrator, Arnold Houbraken, at the age of nine, became an assistant in the shop of
the Dordrecht merchant in twine, Johannes de Haan. His patron, being
himself trained in painting by Nicolaes Maes (1634-1693), gave the
young boy the opportunity to copy drawings and prints.
In 1672, Houbraken began his apprenticeship as a painter, first
for a short time as a pupil of the landscape painter Willem van
Drielenburch (c. 1625-after 1677). In 1673-1674, he spent nine months in
the studio of the portraitist Jacobus Levecq (1634-1675). Eventually,
between 1674 and 1678, he worked in the studio of his master, Samuel
van Hoogstraten (1627-1678), who taught him classicist art theory and
who at that time was writing his Inleyding tot de hooge schoole der
schilderkonst (Introduction to the Advanced School of Painting, 1678).
In 1678, Houbraken became a member of the Dordrecht Guild of St
Luke. As a professional painter, he also had a broad interest in
antiquities and in literature related to art, theater, religion, and
philosophy. He regularly worked as book illustrator.
In 1700, he published his first book, with etchings of emblems and
descriptions: Tooneel van sinnebeelden (Stage of Emblems). The prints
were meant to serve as models for artists. Houbraken found most of his
subject matter in the Iconologia of Cesare Ripa (q.v.), translated into
Dutch in 1644.
In 1714, Houbraken completed an emblem book, coauthored with
Gezine Brit who wrote the poems accompanying Houbraken’s descriptions
of the emblems: Stichtelyke zinnebeelden (Edifying Emblems). Houbraken
made the designs for the emblems, which he himself along with others
engraved in copper.
Houbraken, who lamented the decline of painting in his days, wrote
that it was his intention to keep alive the memory of the artists of
the glorious seventeenth century, and to encourage apprentices to
imitate their excellence. His connoisseurship and iconographic
knowledge qualify him as an early art historian.
Source:
Trinity House Fine Art Consultants,
http://www.trinityhousepaintings.com/Houbraken-Arnold-DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=45&tabindex=44&artistid=55726
|
| ** If you discover credit omissions or have additional information to add, please let us know at registrar@AskART.com. |
|
|
|
|
|
|