Nicolaes Berchem Biography
Nicolaes Berchem (Haarlem, 1 October 1620 – Amsterdam, 16 February 1683) was a Dutch painter, specializing in pastoral scenes populated by mythological characters or biblical figures. He was born in Haarlem, son of the still life painter Pieter Claesz, who introduced him to the artistic world and taught him the first rudiments of painting. The surname Berchem, however, derived from his father's place of birth. He deepened his knowledge, according to the reconstruction of various art historians, under the guidance of Jan van Goyen, Jan Wils and Claes Cornelisz Moeyaert. According to many sources, Berchem traveled to Italy in a period before 1642, together with the Dutch painter Hendrick Mommers and Jan Baptist Weenix, who was his cousin and contemporary and with whom he also shared the experience in Moeyaert's workshop. In fact, around 1642, his presence in the guild of Saint Luke of Haarlem is documented. Moeyaert's influence was evident above all in his youth, as is attested by Laban of 1643. On 2 October 1646 he married Jan Wils' daughter, Catrijne Claesdr. De Groot. Around 1650 he moved to Westphalia together with Jacob van Ruisdael, and, after a second Italian stay (1653-1656), he returned to his homeland, to Amsterdam, where he worked on behalf of Jan de Visscher. In the central period of his career his vast production was mostly focused on port panoramas, hunts, ruins in Latin and Roman landscapes, battles and of course pastoral landscapes. In his mature period, in addition to leaning towards more flashy colors, he approached Adriaen van de Velde. His artistic production was notable, given that his works amounted to 850 pieces, including around sixty etchings and numerous important sanguine drawings. His Italian-style landscapes of ideal rural, hilly, mountain environments were embellished with human and animal figures partially inspired by the works of other artists, such as Allaert van Everdingen, Jan Hackaert, Gerrit Dou, Meindert Hobbema and Willem Schellinks. Berchem exerted a strong influence on later generations of Dutch painters and on various French Rococo painters, such as Jean-Baptiste Pillement and Jean-Baptiste Oudry. Furthermore, his landscape artistic lines inspired a good number of artists, such as François Boucher, Jean Pillement, Jean-Honoré Fragonard, and among the English, Thomas Gainsborough. His studies on animals were also of some importance. He died in Amsterdam in 1683.
