(1629-1684) Dutch painter. He was active in Delft and, later, Amsterdam. The harmonious domestic interiors and courtyards of his Delft period were influenced by Vermeer. The Courtyard of a House in Delft 1658 (National Gallery, London) is a typical work.
He is something more than a genre painter, for though his courtyards and interiors with their domestic figures and visitors give fascinating glimpses of everyday life, the beauty of these compositions primarily depends on the sense of space, the effect of light and exquisitely calculated arrangement, as for example in the Courtyard of a Dutch House and the Boy bringing Pomegranates (Wallace Collection, London). An unfortunate change came over his work after 1657 and his move to Amsterdam, when his efforts to depict fashionable society in luxurious surroundings retained little trace of his earlier quality. At his best he comes near to Vermeer. + prikaži više