Cornelis Corneliszoon van Haarlem (1562 - November 11, 1638), Dutch Golden Age painter and draughtsman, was one of the leading Northern Mannerist artists in The Netherlands, and an important forerunner of Frans Hals as a portraitist.
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Born in Haarlem, Cornelis Corneliszoon was a member of the Mannerist school of Haarlem, which was highly influenced by the work of Bartholomeus Spranger, whose drawings were brought to Haarlem by Carel van Mander in 1585, and had a strong immediate effect.[1] He painted mainly portraits as well as mythological and Biblical subjects. Initially Cornelis Cornelisz painted large-size, highly stylized works with Italianate nudes in twisted poses with a grotesque, unnatural anatomy. Later, his style changed to one based on the Netherlandish realist tradition.
When his parents fled Haarlem in 1568, as the Spanish army laid siege to the city during the Eighty Years' War, Cornelis Cornelisz remained behind and was raised by the painter Pieter Pietersz the Elder, his first teacher. Later, Corneliszoon studied in Rouen, France and Antwerp, Belgium.
He became a respected member of the community and in 1583 he received his first official commission from the city of Haarlem, a militia company portrait, the Banquet of the Haarlem Civic Guard. He later became city painter of Haarlem and received numerous official commissions. As a portrait painter, both of groups and individuals, he was an important influence on Frans Hals.
Together with Carel van Mander, Hendrick Goltzius and other artists, he formed the Haarlem Academy or "Haarlem Mannerists". Probably this was a very informal grouping, perhaps meeting to draw nude models, and certainly to exchange artistic views.[2] Corneliszoon also played a role in reorganizing the Haarlem artists' corporation, the Haarlem Guild of St. Luke, helping to change its religious medieval charter and raising the status of the artists. Among his students was Cornelis Claesz Heda (brother of Willem Claeszoon Heda), who seems to have exported Cornelisz' particular brand of mannerism to India, where he was active at the court of the sultan of Bijapur.[3]
Cornelis Cornelisz married Maritgen Arentsdr Deyman, the daughter of a mayor of Haarlem, sometime before 1603. In 1605 he inherited a third of his wealthy father-in-law’s estate.
Paintings by him are on display at the Frans Hals Museum in Haarlem, the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, the Louvre in Paris, the National Gallery in London, the Hermitage in St. Petersburg and other museums.