Wybrand Hendricks
Wybrand Hendriks (June 24, 1744, Amsterdam – January 28, 1831, Haarlem), was a Dutch painter and the concierge of the Teylers Museum. He is primarily known because of his portraits.
Biography
Wybrand Hendriks was born in a sculptor family, as the son of the sculptor Hendrik Hendriksz (ca. 1704-1782) and his wife Aaltje Claasdr. Both his brothers (Hendrik jr. and Frans) followed in the foot steps of their father, and became sculptors as well. His only sister, Cornelia, married with sculptor Rijk Rijke.
According to the Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie (Dutch national agency for art historical documentation) he learned to paint while working for the decorative wall paper factory of Johannes Remmers in Amsterdam.[1] In 1772 he purchased the company from Anthony Palthe. In 1775 he married Agatha Ketel, then widow of Palthe (in 1773 he drew her in mourning clothes).[2] In that year he also visited England and Belgium.
In the 80's of the 18th century he was for five years one of the directors of the Haarlemse Tekenacademie (drawing academy of Haarlem). From 1786 to 1819 he was the concierge ("kastelein") of the Teyler's Stichting in Haarlem, and he lived at the "Fundatiehuis" as curator of the art collection.
He assumed the position in 1785 after his predecessor Vincent Jansz van der Vinne had left in disagreement with Martin van Marum, the head of the fossil and instrument collections.[3] He maintained and restaurated the pieces in the collection as well. He maintained a studio in the old drawing room of Teyler's drawing academy, which had been moved to the city hall. As curator, he was responsible for expanding the collection of art, and for that he participated in auctions throughout the Netherlands to purchase drawings. He managed to purchase an important collection of 1700 Italian drawings from the collection of Queen Christina of Sweden in 1790 (the Odescalchi colelction). This collection includes works by Michelangelo and Raphael Santi, which are currently amongst the most important and valuable pieces in the Teylers Museum art collection.[3]
After his wife Agatha Ketel died in 1802, he remarried in 1806 with Geertruid Harmsen (widow of J.Radecker, city organist of Haarlem), who died in 1817. Two years later he moved to a house at the Oude Gracht, where he died in 1831 on age 86. Hendriks was also regent of the Gasthuis (hospital), member of the city council and was a supporter of the revolution at the end of the 19th century.
His pupils were Hermanus van Brussel, Warnaar Horstink, Gerrit Johan van Leeuwen, Hendrina Alida Sollewijn, Abraham Vallenduuk, and Jacobus Vrijmoet.
Work
He is known for portraits, landscapes, and flower still lifes in the manner of Jan van Huysum.[1] Hendriks created several paintings in and around the Teylers Museum, for example of the directors of the Teylers Stichting, the Oval Room and the inner garden of the Foundation House. His paintings of the inner garden of the Foundation House and the Oval Room seem to have been created with the help of convex mirrors and other optical aids because the perspectives are impossible to get without.
He created portraits of, amongst others, Jacob van der Vos sr., Christiaan Scholten, Christiaan van Orsoy, Jan Petrus Scholten van Aschat, Frederik Alexander Vernède, Wernerus Köhne, Adriaan van der Willigen and Martinus van Marum.
References
