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Albert van Spiers

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A floral frontispiece with a portrait medallion of Agnes Block

Albert van Spiers (baptized on 18 November 1665, Amsterdam – buried on 9 November 1718, Amsterdam), was a Dutch Golden Age painter.[1] He is mainly known for interior decorations in the houses of the Canals of Amsterdam.

Biography

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Ceiling decoration in Herengracht 497, restored in 2003 and presumed to be by the workshop of De Lairesse or Spiers.[2]

According to Houbraken he travelled to Italy and joined the Bentvueghels with the nickname "Piramied".[3] While in Italy he became friends with the Dutch painter Jacob de Heusch in Italy, who died from a fall after visiting the Spiers workshop in Amsterdam in 1701.[4] According to Jan van Gool, he was a pupil of Gerard de Lairesse in Amsterdam.[5] Other sources also mention Willem van Ingen as his teacher.[6] After his apprenticeship he travelled to Rome and Venice before returning to Amsterdam to set up his own workshop in 1697, specializing in ceiling, over-the-door and over-the-mantelpiece decorations for the large patrician canal houses on the Herengracht and Keizersgracht.[5]

According to the RKD he worked in Rome, Venice, and the Hague, and became a member of the Confrerie Pictura in 1699.[7] His pupil was Jacob de Wit, who continued to make similar interior decorations.[7]

References

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  1. ^ "Albert (van) Spiers". ECARTICO. Retrieved 2016-01-05.
  2. ^ article on restoration on onsamsterdam historical society website
  3. ^ (in Dutch) Albert van Spiers mentioned in Bentvogel poem in De groote schouburgh der Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen (1718) by Arnold Houbraken, courtesy of the Digital library for Dutch literature
  4. ^ Jacob de Heusch biography in Houbraken, Volume II, page 356.
  5. ^ a b (in Dutch) Albert van Spiers in Jan van Gool's Nieuwe Schouburg, 1750, courtesy of the historici.nl
  6. ^ Von Würzbach, Alfred (1906–1910). Niederländisches Künstler-Lexikon. Leipzig: Halm und Goldmann.
  7. ^ a b Albert van Spiers in the RKD