Willem Pieterszoon Buytewech

Willem Pietersz. Buytewech (* 1591/92 in Rotterdam, † September 23, 1624 in Rotterdam ) was a Dutch painter, draftsman and etcher. He is considered the "inventor" of Dutch genre painting.

Life

Willem Buytewech was a son of the shoe and candle maker Pieter Jacobsz. He spent his apprenticeship in Haarlem. In the Guild of St. Luke in 1612 he is recorded first as a member. Shortly before that - in 1610 - also Frans Hals guild member had become. He obviously had a strong influence on Buytewech with his work. Numerous drawn copies after works by Frans Hals clear evidence of this. After his marriage on 10 November 1613 Aeltje van Amerongen Willem Buytewech returned in 1617 to Rotterdam back. The connections to Haarlem but remained composed.

Buytewech was primarily worked as a graphic. Among his subjects were mainly genre and landscape images, but also biblical scenes and allegorical representations. Its well-known and dated works were created between the years 1606 and 1621 are from the oeuvre Today only eight paintings still exist -. All genre pictures. Particularly well known is his Merry Company on a Terrace (1616 /17).