Hendrick Avercamp (January 27, 1585 (bapt.) - May 15, 1634
(buried)) was a Dutch painter. Avercamp was born in Amsterdam,
where he studied with the Danish-born portrait painter Pieter
Isaacks (1569–1625), and perhaps also with David Vinckboons. In
1608 he moved from Amsterdam to Kampen in the province of
Overijssel. Avercamp was mute and was known as "de Stomme van
Kampen" (the mute of Kampen). As one of the first landscape
painters of the 17th-century Dutch school, he specialized in
painting the Netherlands in winter. Avercamp's paintings are
colorful and lively, with carefully crafted images of the people
in the landscape. Many of Avercamp's paintings feature people
ice skating on frozen lakes. Avercamp's work enjoyed great
popularity and he sold his drawings, many of which were tinted
with water-color, as finished pictures to be pasted into the
albums of collectors. The Royal Collection has an outstanding
collection of his works. Avercamp died in Kampen and was
interred there in the Sint Nicolaaskerk. |Wik