Ferdinand Bol

Ferdinand Bol – Lessons from Cuyp and Bloemaert; close proximity to Rembrandt

Ferdinand Bol was born in Dordrecht in 1616. The son of the barber and surgeon Balthasar Bol, he learnt the foundations of painting from Jacob Gerritsz. Cuyp, whose son Aelbert Jacobsz. Cuyp is considered one of the most important Dutch landscape painters of the 17th century. Bol received further instruction from Abraham Bloemaert in Utrecht, a stronghold of Dutch Baroque painting and then moved to Amsterdam, where, despite having completed his training, he once again became a pupil, this time of Rembrandt van Rijn, with whom he worked in the workshop of the art dealer and patron Hendrick van Uylenburgh. His apprenticeship with Rembrandt, which probably lasted several years, had such a lasting and formative influence on Ferdinand Bol that the pronounced similarity in style led to repeated errors and confusion among experts - this applies in particular to the 17 surviving etchings by Ferdinand Bol, some of which were considered for a long time to be works by Rembrandt. Over time, however, Bol developed his own style, characterised by elegant brushwork and, above all, a greater use of colour than was the case with Rembrandt.

Courtly painting style made him the most important painter in Amsterdam

Ferdinand Bol's artistic focus was on portraits as well as biblical and historical scenes. In doing so, he carefully adapted his style to contemporary tastes in order to win the approval of a growing audience, and soon became one of the most sought-after artists in Amsterdam. The lighter style of painting is possibly also due to his acquaintance with the work of Bartholomeus van der Helst. Ferdinand Bol created several historical paintings for Amsterdam City Hall - the city's guilds and powerful people came to the artist with their commissions, whose distinguished style of painting showed the sitters in the best light and lent the desired splendour to their commissioned historical scenes.

Growing prosperity led to dwindling painting activity

Ferdinand Bol was able to significantly advance his career through his marriage to his first wife Lybeth Dell, who, as the daughter of a long-established regent's family, maintained good relations with the Admiralty and arranged several commissions for her husband. Unfortunately for the art world, however, the artist, having been widowed since 1660, married a second time nine years after his wife's death - with the opposite effect: his new wife Anna van Arckel brought such a large fortune into the marriage that Ferdinand Bol hardly needed to work as a painter anymore. One of his last paintings is a self-portrait painted in the late 1660s. However, as a respected citizen, he showed social commitment and managed the town's leprosarium. Today, the majority of Ferdinand Bol's works are in the hands of private collectors and in public buildings and are therefore rarely found on the art market.

Ferdinand Bol died in Amsterdam on 24th August 1680. His former home at Keizersgracht 672 now houses the Van Loon Museum, founded in 1960.