Lieven Willemsz van Coppenol

Lieven Willemsz van Coppenol
Portrait of Lieven Willemsz van Coppenol by Rembrandt
Born	1598
Died	1667 Amsterdam
Nationality	Netherlands

Lieven Willemsz van Coppenol (1598 – 1667) was a Dutch calligrapher best known today for his portraits by Rembrandt.

A poem by Jan Six van Chandelier in 1662, written by Coppenol

He became a French schoolmaster and lived in Haarlem in the Koningsstraat under the "Crowned Pen" in 1617. He then moved to the Begijnestraat behind the St. Bavochurch by the clock tower in 1624. By 1628 he had moved to Amsterdam where he ran a school in 1628 called ‘In den Hertog van Saxen', near the 'Jan Roodenpoortstoren’. He married for the second time as a widower on 19 June 1644 in Amsterdam to Grietje Andries. He had several poems written in his honor, presumably as a return favor for writing the poems of poets on wall decorations and engraved plates. Several of his writing examples have been preserved. His "schoonschrift" as calligraphy was called was recorded for various objects, most notably a poem in the Amsterdam town hall that was written by Cornelia Pluvier, a poet married to the still-life painter Willem Kalf. Besides teaching, he travelled to clients to sell his work, pulling a hand cart with writing examples for inspiration. Coppenol died in Amsterdam.

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