Augustinus Terwesten

Augustinus Terwesten

Self-portrait circa 1700
Born 4 May 1649
the Hague
Died 21 January 1711
Nationality Nederland
Known for Painting, engraving
Movement Baroque

Augustinus Terwesten (1649, The Hague – 1711, Berlin) was an 18th-century painter from the northern Netherlands specialized in portraits, architectural, and historical themes.

Early years in the Hague

Augustinus Terwesten studied with a painter named Wielin in the Hague who later went to serve Frederick Willem von Brandenburg.[1] He then took lessons from Willem Doudyns for two years before setting off on a Grand Tour through Germany to Italy in 1672, where he spent three years.[1]

Grand Tour to Rome and the Bentvueghels

In Rome he became a member of the painters' circle known as the Bentvueghels, where he earned the nickname "Patrysvogel", or partridge, after the story of Perdix by Ovid.[1][2] He went back to the Hague via France and England, and was gone for a total of 6 years.[1] In 1678 he set up a workshop in the Hague specialized in wall and ceiling decorations.[2] 1682–1683 he helped to set up the Drawing Academy in the Hague set up by the "Confrerie Pictura".[1]

German professor

In 1692 he became court painter to the son of his former royal patron, Frederick I of Prussia, in Berlin, and talked him into sponsoring an Akademie der Künste.[1] After overseeing the building of this academy which was completed in 1697, he became professor there and lived there until his death in 1711.[1] He taught both of his brothers Elias and Mattheus Terwesten, but also the painters Frans Beeldemaker, Nikolaus Bruno Belau, Andries Bertoen, Jacobus Bisschop, Nicolaes Hooft, and Cornelis Michiarus.[2]

He is remembered today for his historical allegories and portraits.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Augustinus Terwesten (I).

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 (Dutch) Augustinus Terwesten Biography in De groote schouburgh der Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen (1718) by Arnold Houbraken, courtesy of the Digital library for Dutch literature
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Augustinus Terwesten in the RKD

External links