Hans Bol
1534 – 1593
Hero and Leander
Medium:
Gouache on Vellum heightened with Gold
Category:
Dimensions:
7.3(h) x 8.8(w) cms
Exhibitions:
Essay:
Born in Mechelen, Hans Bol was a student of his two uncles, Jean and Jacques Bol. He became a member of the Mechelen Guild in 1560. When Mechelen was sacked in 1572 as a result of the ongoing conflicts between Catholics and Protestants, Bol was forced to move to Antwerp. By 1584 the war had spread to Antwerp and he set out on travels which took him to Bergen-op-Zoom, Dordrecht, Delft and, eventually, Amsterdam, where he took up residence in 1586. Here he joined a large group of originally Flemish artists who had settled in Amsterdam and came to influence the local style of painting considerably, notably the genre of landscape paintings.
Although he also painted other subjects, the landscapes by Hans Bol are of particularly high quality. Usually kept on a small scale, they depict broad vistas with buildings and figures rendered with meticulous attention to detail. He is also credited with introducing the city view as an independent genre.
Among the more famous students of Hans Bol were Jacob Savery of Kortrijk and Frans Boels.
Provenance:
Private collection, France
