Confrérie Pictura

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The Confrérie Pictura (Brotherhood of Painting) was a Dutch guild of the Golden Age . It was founded in 1656 in The Hague in what was then the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands , a forerunner of today's Netherlands.

A guild of St. Luke in The Hague has come down to us as early as the 16th century . In 1656 the Confrérie Pictura split off from it, the founders of which were dissatisfied with the Guild of St. Luke, since it was open to painters and varnishers as well as glaziers , engravers , goldsmiths , printers and book sellers, and in some cities even saddlers . They, on the other hand, had set themselves the goal of organizing themselves as professional painters separately from the so-called kladschilders (blots, brushes). An enormous peculiarity of the time was that they also made it possible for the sculptors to become a member of the guild, because it was not until 1678 that Samuel van Hoogstraten , in his work “Inleyding tot de hooge schole der schilderconst” (Introduction to the high art of Painting) represented the brotherly relationship between painting and sculpture in Holland.

The aim of the Confrérie Pictura was to protect the painters and to strengthen their relationships with one another. Soon it was compulsory for every painter in The Hague to join the Confrerie, otherwise he would not be able to exhibit his works.

The guild had strict rules in which trading and sales principles were laid down as well as the obligation to attend funerals of deceased guild brothers. The Confrérie Pictura had a constitution of 28 rules. One of the most important rules was the obligation to constantly display your own work in the meeting room of the Confrérie. As soon as a work was sold, it had to be replaced with a new one.

Initially, the members met in the building of The Hague Boterwaag on the Prinsegracht, the then transshipment point for butter. Later, in the 1680s, the guild moved to the Korenhuis , the place of the grain trade, also located on the Prinsegracht. There they had four separate rooms on the upper floor, one of which was used by the Haagsche Teekenacademie (The Hague Academy of Drawing). The drawing academy was founded by five guild members; it was the forerunner of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts .

literature

  • Haagse Schilders in de Gouden Eeuw , Uitgeverij Waanders, Zwolle 1998, ISBN 90-400-9295-8