Samuel Dirksz van Hoogstraten
From Freepedia
Samuel Dirksz van Hoogstraten (1627? - October 19, 1678), Dutch painter, was born, it is said, in 1627 at the Hague.
Samuel Dirksz van Hoogstraten was first a pupil of his father while living at The Hague and Dort until about 1640. On the death of Dirk Hoogstraten, his father, he changed his residence to Amsterdam and entered the school of Rembrandt. A short time later, he started as a master and painter of portraits. He then set out on a round of travels which took him (1651) to Vienna, Rome and London, finally retiring to Dort. There he married in 1656, and held an appointment as provost of the mint.
Hoogstraten's works are scarce; but a sufficient number of them have been preserved to show that he strove to imitate different styles at different times. In a portrait dated 1645, currently in the Lichtenstein collection in Vienna, he imitates Rembrandt. He continued in this vein until as late as 1653 when he produced the wonderful figure of a Jew looking out of a casement. This, one of the more characteristic examples of his manner, is exhibited in the Belvedere at Vienna.
A view of the Vienna Hofburg, dated 1652, in the same gallery, displays his skill as a painter of architecture. In contrast, a piece at the Hague representing a "Lady Reading a Letter as she crosses a Courtyard," or a "Lady Consulting a Doctor," (in the Van der Hoop Museum at Amsterdam), imitates de Hooch. One of his last remaining works is a portrait of Mathys van den Brouck, dated 1670, is in the gallery of Amsterdam.
The scarcity of Hoogstraten's pictures is possibly due to his versatility. Besides directing a mint, he devoted some time to literary labours, wrote a book on the theory of painting (1678) and composed sonnets and a tragedy. We are indebted to him for some of the familiar sayings of Rembrandt. He was an etcher too, and some of his plates are still preserved. His portrait, engraved by himself at the age of fifty, still exists.
This article incorporates text from the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, which is in the public domain.
