Egbert van der Poel

Egbert Lievensz. van der Poel ( baptized on March 9, 1621 in Delft, buried on July 19, 1664 in Rotterdam) was a Dutch painter whose life falls into the Golden Age of the Netherlands.

Life and work

Little is known about his youth. In 1650 he was accepted at the age of 29 years in the Delft Guild of St. Luke, in the following year he married Aeltgen Willems van Linschooten. After the explosion of the Delft powder magazine in 1654, he moved to Rotterdam.

In several paintings he recorded the "Delft Thunderclap " and the subsequent devastation of Delft, the best known version is in the National Gallery in London. A Daughter van der Poel died a few days after the explosion.

Many of his paintings show a burning village at night, often with plundering and marauding soldiers. In addition, he still painted genre scenes, especially rural interiors with scenes from the kitchen and stables as well as landscapes, most of them beach views, some at night.