Jacob van Campen

Jacob van Campen ( born February 2, 1595 Haarlem (Netherlands), † December 13, 1657 on Good Randenbroek in Amersfoort, also Jacob Pietersz van Campen ) was a Dutch painter and architect.

Biography

Jacob van Campen was born in 1595 in the Dutch city of Haarlem in a rich and distinguished aristocratic family. Initially he worked as a painter and trained in Rome. He entered 1614 at the St. Lucas guild. Here he was, but drawn to architecture and was continued success as an architect. With its strict, preferring clear classicizing forms style he overcame the hitherto customary in the Dutch Mannerist and early Baroque small-scale transmission of classical forms on a single outdated building design. So was Jacob van Campen founder and major representative of the North Dutch Classicism. Because of his background, he was financially independent and could choose his clients and orders. After a stay in Italy from 1615 to 1621 he designed in 1625 the Coymanshaus in Amsterdam, where he already followed the theory of proportion of the famous Andrea Palladio, while the detailed formulation based on the scientific Venetian architect Palladio and Vincenzo Scamozzi 's successor. In the 1630s van Campen was part of the art-loving circle around Constantijn Huygens, secretary of the governor, Frederick Henry ( Frederik Hendrik ).

The architecture of the so-called Golden Age of the Netherlands shows stricter, more Italian than that of the previous case van Campen. The earliest Dutch country house in the style of the Palladian comes from van Campen, namely the Huis ten Bosch in Maarssen on the Vecht, province of Utrecht (after 1627 ). Another important building in this style is the private home of Johan Maurits of Nassau, the Mauritshuis in The Hague (1634-1644), which varies the Palladian scheme of the manor house of a villa on all four facades. Van Campen also has the Reformed Church ( Hervormde Kerk ) in Renswoude, Utrecht ( 1639-1641 ) Province, and the Nieuwe Kerk designed ( also reformed ) in Haarlem ( 1645-1649 ).

The masterpiece of the architect Jacob van Campen is the 1642 to 1648 built former Amsterdam Town Hall ( stadhuis ) at the Dam, which today houses the Royal Palace. It demonstrated the supremacy of the city of Amsterdam in the most influential province (Netherlands) the Dutch States General. It is also the largest structure of its kind in his time. The exterior combines elements of contemporary French castle building ( pavilion tract system) with a Palladian marked accentuation of the center ( Risalit with triangular pediment ). About a transversely rectangular, lattice-shaped floor plan, the room service and reception rooms are arranged around corridors on either side of the central hall citizens. This large, barrel-vaulted hall goes through the full depth and height of the building. In the Hall Building van Campen his reputation was fairly well as a builder. The town hall had to be established by the depression of 13,659 piles in the marshy ground - a masterpiece of engineering.

Also the construction of the castle Huis ten Bosch in The Hague and Noordeinde Palace in The Hague van Campen was involved. On July 29, 1655, the first part of the building of the city leaders was put into use. Van Campen are also attributed to the mausoleums of Galen and admirals Tromp.

Paintings of van Campen's found, inter alia in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, the Mauritshuis (The Hague), in Huis ten Bosch (The Hague ) and at City Hall and in the Sint Joriskerk to Amersfoort.