Saturday, December 1, 2018

1690 Jan Griffier I (Dutch, 1645-1718) London and the River Thames from One Tree Hill, Greenwich Park

 1690 Jan Griffier I (Dutch artist, 1645-1718) London and the River Thames from One Tree Hill, Greenwich Park

Jan Griffier (ca 1652–1718) was a Dutch painter active in England, where he was admitted to the London Company of Painter-Stainers in 1677.  The artist was born at Amsterdam, where he was apprenticed successively to a carpenter, an earthenware manufacturer, & a drunken flower-painter before becoming a pupil of Roelant Roghman (1627-1692) in landscape-painting. Mixing at Amsterdam in the society of the great painters, such as Rembrandt, Ruysdael, & Lingelbach, he became acquainted with their various styles, & traces of their influence may be observed in his works.  His city views, invaluable topographical evidence, suggest that his travels in England were extensive.