Jan Asselijn

Jan Asselijn

The threatened swan (before 1652)

Flight into Egypt , 1640

Jan Asselijn (* around 1610 in Dieppe , France , † September 28, 1652 in Amsterdam ), known as Krabbetje (Little Crab) because of his overgrown hand , was a Dutch landscape and history painter of French origin who also knew about battle and animal painting .

In 1621 Asselijn's family moved from Dieppe in France to Amsterdam in the Netherlands. Asselijn was a pupil of Esaias van de Velde and stayed in Rome for around seven years from 1635 , where he belonged to Schilderbent , a Dutch painters' association, and Pieter van Laer became his role model in treating the figures and Claude Lorrain in the landscape. Asselijn is also recorded in Florence , where he first instructed the young Jacques Courtois in battle painting before 1640 and exerted significant influence on it.

Together with Jan Both and Jan Baptist Weenix , he is counted among the most important representatives of the so-called Dutch Italian drivers (“Dutch Italianates” or “Nederlandse Italianisanten”). His painting The Threatened Swan is one of his best known works and has often been seen as a symbol of national defense in the face of the Anglo-Dutch naval wars . This is also supported by the texts that later owners attached to the painting.

In 1652 Asselijn joined the Amsterdam citizenship, but died in the same year. His brother was Thomas Asselijn .

literature

• Giancarlo Sestieri: I pittori di battaglie. Maestri italiani e stranieri del XVII e XVIII secolo = Battle Painters. Italian and Foreign Masters of the XVII and XVIII centuries . DeLuca, Rome 1999, ISBN 88-8016-321-3 .
• Wilhelm Schmidt:  Asselyn, Jan . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 1, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1875, p. 623.

Web links

Commons : Jan Asselijn  - Collection of images, videos and audio files