ABRAHAM VAN BEYEREN

SAILING VESSELS IN CHOPPY WATERS OFF AN ESTUARY

Abraham van Beyeren also known as Abraham Hendriksz van Beijeren,  started his career in his native town of Leiden, where he received his first eduction at the age of 15 from Tyman Arentsz. Cracht called Botterkul (sack-shaped fishing net). He left Leiden in 1640, when moving to The Hague where he was instantly admitted into the painter’s guild. Van Beyeren became one of the founding members of the ‘Confrerie Pictura’. In 1656 he was elected member of the Guild in Delft. Despite spending extended periods in the Hague, he never settled for long in any one city, residing in Amsterdam in 1672 and Alkmaar in 1674. Abraham Van Beyeren died in Overschie at the age of 70 years.

The painter is best known for his elaborate pronck still lives of fruit, flowers and fish, whereas his marine paintings are considerably rare. Sometimes glimpses of marine subjects appear in the background of the compositions. His maritime influences came from Simon de Vlieger, Jan Porcellis and above all Jan van Goyen. His particularly sketchy and flickering brushwork as well as a loose handling of paint remind us of his Leiden colleague. In spite of his advanced style, he suffered from a lack of recognition by life-time and experienced constant persecution of his creditors. In April 1689 his need had become so great that he put up 54 paintings for auction, held at the inn ‘The Golden Falcon’. Not more than 10 works did actually sell, for a total sum of fl. 153.80. At present, he is considered one of the greatest still life and seascape painters and is highly valued in the market.

In 1654 Van Beyeren executed the famous Visserij-bord by order of the Grote Kerk in Maasluis. The lavish composition with elements of fish still live and marine fragments was accompanied by a poem of the local bard Bartholomeus Brasser:

Give abundance to trade, but shield the fishery

Who with winged Timber sail the brackish Fluid

To harvest in their Hoekers the unsown fruit

Collections: Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam;  The Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Brussels;  The National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, UK; The Louvre, Paris; Leipzig, Museum der Bildenden Künste; Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam; National Museum Scotland; Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna;  Ashmolean Museum; Oxford University; The Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts, Stanford University, California; Dallas Museum, Dallas;  Art Institute, Detroit; Museum of Art, Honolulu; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; The Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Rhode Island; The Royal Castle, Warsaw;  The Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio; The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis;  The Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles; The Seattle Art Museum, Seattle; The York Art Gallery, York;  The Hague-Bredius Museum; Budapest-Museum of Fine Arts; Sneek, Fries Scheepvaart Museum.