Jacob van der Ulft
Encyclopedia
Jacob van der Ulft was a Dutch Golden Age
Dutch Golden Age
The Golden Age was a period in Dutch history, roughly spanning the 17th century, in which Dutch trade, science, military and art were among the most acclaimed in the world. The first half is characterised by the Eighty Years' War till 1648...

 landscape painter, architect, and mayor.

Biography

He was registered in Gorinchem during the years 1652-1683, according to the RKD. In 1658 he is registered as making sketches of heraldic shields for the city of Gorinchem, and in 1659 he is mentioned in a notarized document as being a painter and an architect. In 1679 he fled to The Hague
The Hague
The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...

 for a short period due to accusations of corruption, and in 1683 he left Gorinchem definitely for Noordwijk, where he later died.

According to Houbraken he was the son of the mayor of Gorinchem, and he became the best glass painter of his century, who went to great trouble to reinvent the techniques of Dirk Crabeth
Dirk Crabeth
Dirk Pietersz Crabeth was a Dutch Renaissance glass painter, tapestry designer, and mapmaker. He was employed by the Janskerk during the 16th century, where he created eight of the stained glass windows during the years 1555-1571...

 and his brother Wouter
Wouter Crabeth I
Wouter Pietersz Crabeth , was a Dutch Renaissance glass painter. He was employed by the Janskerk during the Protestant Reformation, where he created six of the stained glass windows during the years 1555-1571...

. Gorinchem and the surrounding towns all had examples of his stained glass work. Houbraken goes on to write that despite this talent and becoming mayor of Gorinchem himself, Ulft would go down in history for his own contributions to art in the area of oil painting and engraving old ruins, showing each crack and cranny. He painted many Italianate landscapes with monuments and triumphal arches, but these were based on Italianate prints, because according to Houbraken he had never been to Italy.

Ulft's painting of the old city hall of Amsterdam shows the whalebone hanging from the vierschaar (courtroom) given to the city by Willem Barentsz. A similar whalebone still hangs in the Haarlem City Hall. This painting, highly detailed and populated with townspeople in all manner of dress and occupation, was enough to keep his name famous for centuries, according to Houbraken.
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK