Karel Dujardin

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Karel Dujardin (Sep 27, 1640, Amsterdam - Nov 20, 1678, Venice), Dutch animal and landscape painter.

Karel Dujardins, commedia dell'arte show, dated 1657 (Louvre)

Dujardin was born in Amsterdam in 1640. After training with Nicolaes Berchem, he went to Italy when young, and became a member of the Society of Painters at Rome, among whom, he was known as 'Barba di Becco'. In Rome, his works met with general approbation.

According to some sources, on his way back to his native country, he contracted considerable debts at Lyon, to free himself from which, he married his old and rich landlady. He went with her to Amsterdam, where his pictures were valued very highly. He soon secretly left his home in that city, probably from dislike of his wife, and went back to Rome in 1675, where he was welcomed by his old friends and admirers, and lived at great expense. After a vist to Tangier he went to Venice, where he died in 1678.

Most of his paintings are cabinet paintings of Italianate landscapes and or with farm animals and peasants. His landscapes have spirit and harmony, his figures expression, and his colour the brilliancy which distinguishes his school. His paintings are rare and command a high price. He also published fifty-two etchings of simiar subjects, with great spirit and ease.

He painted a single, fine, portrait (probably a self-portrait), and a pair of Baroque religious paintings on the life of St Paul, probably commissioned, as they lie well outside his normal style. One of these, and the portrait, are in the National Gallery, London