Adriaen van der Werff

Adriaen van der Werff ( born January 21, 1659 Kralingen -Ambacht, today Rotterdam, † November 12, 1722 in Rotterdam ) was a Dutch painter.

Life and work

Adriaen van der Werff was a pupil at C. Picolet (1669-1670), and later with Eglon Hendrik van der Neer (1671-1676) and then settled in Rotterdam. There he visited in 1696, the Elector Johann Wilhelm of the Palatinate, for whom he painted his portrait, and the judgment of Solomon, for which he was appointed court painter to the Elector in 1703 and raised to knighthood.

He lived alternately in Dusseldorf and Rotterdam, where he died on 12 November 1722. He has written numerous biblical, mythological and genre scenes, and portraits painted pieces Shepherd in a smaller scale, which are characterized by a very hardworking and elegant design. The modeling of the naked flesh parts is often driven to ivory or porcelain -like smoothness, the heads are expressionless and without sensation; but his contemporaries appreciated Werff painting around this corresponding to the taste of the time characteristics very high. Throughout its fine painting was appreciated in all the courts. Most of his pictures (30 ) are located in the Munich Pinakothek ( including 16 from the story of Christ and Diana, the misstep of Callisto discovering ) and the Dresden Gallery (12, including Lot and his daughters, the Repudiation of Hagar, a Penitent Magdalen, Venus and Cupid, and The judgment of Paris ).

Adriaens brother Pieter van der Werff (* 1665, † after 1721 in Rotterdam) was his pupil and painted in the same way.

His bust -up took place in the hall of fame in Munich.

Works (excerpt)

  • Portrait of Elector Johann Wilhelm of the Palatinate. Oil on canvas, 76 × 53.8 cm. Schleißheim, State Gallery.
  • Shepherd and Shepherdess. Oil on canvas, 90 × 80 cm. Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden
  • The Holy Family. Oil on canvas, Old Pinaktothek, Munich
  • Descent from the Cross of Christ. Oil on canvas, Old Pinaktothek, Munich
  • Rest on the Flight to Egypt. Oil on canvas, National Gallery, London
Johann Wilhelm, Elector Palatine Alte Pinakothek Judgement of Paris Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie Integrated Authority File
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