Gerrit Pietersz Sweelink

Gerrit Pietersz Sweelink (1566–1612) was a Dutch Golden Age painter.

Biography

Sweelink was born and died in Amsterdam. According to Karel van Mander he was first taught to paint by Jacob Lenartsz, a glasspainter of Amsterdam whose father was a seaman from Zandvoort.^[1] He was such a good student that he was recommended to the painter Cornelis van Haarlem by Jacob Rauwaert.^[1] He was the brother of the Orpheus of Amsterdam, the organist Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck, whose portrait he later painted.^[1] He lived in Antwerp many years and was in Rome for even longer.^[1] When Van Mander was writing Sweelink was living back in Amsterdam and still painting.^[1] Sweelink had taught a few good students, including a painter named "Govert" in Amsterdam, and Pieter Lastman in Italy.^[1]

According to the RKD he is known for portraits and mythological and religious pieces.^[2] He possibly died in 1612, since the engraved portrait of him in the engraving by Simon Frisius for Hendrik Hondius I refers to him in the past tense.^[2]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Gerrit Pietersz. Sweelink.

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f} (in Dutch) Gerrit Pietersz Sweelink in Karel van Mander's Schilder-boeck, 1604, courtesy of the Digital library for Dutch literature
2. ^ ^{a b} Gerrit Pietersz Sweelink in the RKD