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Father of Nicolas Maes was the wealthy cloth merchant Gerrit Maes from the city of Dordrecht in the Netherlands. With his permission, the young Maes trained as a painter in his home town, although his first teacher was rather mediocre. Five years later Maes, who had long since surpassed his teacher artistically, moved to Amsterdam. It was decided that he should continue his studies there in Rembrandt's studio. He remained there for several years and then returned to Dordrecht to establish himself as an independent artist. Still very young, the artist married Adriana Brouwers, the widow of the preacher Arnoldus de Gelder. A very good match. She brought a son, Justus de Gelder, into the marriage.
In the mid-1660s Nicolas Maes travelled to Antwerp to study the famous Flemish painters. He was fascinated by the works of Peter Paul Rubens, Anthony van Dyck and Jacob Jordaens. It is said that he even visited the latter in his workshop and talked extensively with him about painting. Subsequently, Maes devoted himself almost exclusively to portrait painting and was very successful both artistically and financially. He was his highly respected influential citizen of Dortrechts and a lieutenant in the local civic guild. But in 1673 Nicolas Maes and his family moved to Amsterdam. This may have been due to the fact that the domestic market for portraits was saturated. At the same time, the most famous Amsterdam portrait painters Bartholomeus van der Helst and Abraham van den Tempel had died and there were certainly many commissions for a good portrait painter in the city. Maes calculation worked out. He quickly became the most popular portrait painter of the time and Amsterdam society was eager to have him painted. When the artist died in 1690, he had a cash fortune of 11,000 guilders and owned 3 houses in Amsterdam and 2 in Dordrecht. He was a very rich man for the time.
The artistic work of Nicolas Maes is very extensive. He painted several hundreds of portraits, whereby his very skilful staging, inspired by the Flemish painters, was striking. He also left many group portraits, often wrapped up as mythological stories. His pictures of children are also very well known. But the artist not only made a name for himself as a portrait painter. His genre paintings, mythological and religious pictures also inspired his contemporaries and are today exhibited in many large museums.
Father of Nicolas Maes was the wealthy cloth merchant Gerrit Maes from the city of Dordrecht in the Netherlands. With his permission, the young Maes trained as a painter in his home town, although his first teacher was rather mediocre. Five years later Maes, who had long since surpassed his teacher artistically, moved to Amsterdam. It was decided that he should continue his studies there in Rembrandt's studio. He remained there for several years and then returned to Dordrecht to establish himself as an independent artist. Still very young, the artist married Adriana Brouwers, the widow of the preacher Arnoldus de Gelder. A very good match. She brought a son, Justus de Gelder, into the marriage.
In the mid-1660s Nicolas Maes travelled to Antwerp to study the famous Flemish painters. He was fascinated by the works of Peter Paul Rubens, Anthony van Dyck and Jacob Jordaens. It is said that he even visited the latter in his workshop and talked extensively with him about painting. Subsequently, Maes devoted himself almost exclusively to portrait painting and was very successful both artistically and financially. He was his highly respected influential citizen of Dortrechts and a lieutenant in the local civic guild. But in 1673 Nicolas Maes and his family moved to Amsterdam. This may have been due to the fact that the domestic market for portraits was saturated. At the same time, the most famous Amsterdam portrait painters Bartholomeus van der Helst and Abraham van den Tempel had died and there were certainly many commissions for a good portrait painter in the city. Maes calculation worked out. He quickly became the most popular portrait painter of the time and Amsterdam society was eager to have him painted. When the artist died in 1690, he had a cash fortune of 11,000 guilders and owned 3 houses in Amsterdam and 2 in Dordrecht. He was a very rich man for the time.
The artistic work of Nicolas Maes is very extensive. He painted several hundreds of portraits, whereby his very skilful staging, inspired by the Flemish painters, was striking. He also left many group portraits, often wrapped up as mythological stories. His pictures of children are also very well known. But the artist not only made a name for himself as a portrait painter. His genre paintings, mythological and religious pictures also inspired his contemporaries and are today exhibited in many large museums.