Abraham Bloemaert

Abraham Bloemaert (1566–1651) was born in Gorinchem, the son of the architect Cornelis Bloemaert, who moved the family to Utrecht in 1575. He studied there with Gerrit Splinter and Joos de Beer, then spent 1581–83 in Paris, training briefly under Jehan Bassot and later with his countryman Hieronymus Francken at Fontainebleau. After a spell in Amsterdam he settled in Utrecht in 1593 and stayed there for the rest of his life. He began in the style of the Haarlem Mannerists and in the early seventeenth century adapted to the emerging Baroque, painting mainly history subjects along with landscapes of ruined cottages and country life. Many of his paintings were commissioned by Utrecht's clandestine Catholic churches. In 1611 he was one of the founders of the city's Guild of Saint Luke, and as a teacher he trained most of the Utrecht Caravaggisti, among them Hendrick ter Brugghen and Gerard van Honthorst, as well as his own four sons. Two works here: Adoration of the Shepherds and The Adoration of the Magi.