Adriaen Pietersz van de Venne

A prolific and inventive painter, draftsman, and poet, Adriaen Pietersz van de Venne was born in Delft in 1589. His parents had fled from Protestant persecution in the Southern (Spanish) Netherlands during the 1580s. Van de Venne was educated in Leiden, where he became part of the vibrant political and intellectual community around the University. He settled in Middleburg, in Zeeland, by 1614; his earliest dated paintings are also from this year. In 1625, van de Venne moved to The Hague, where he remained until his death. He executed several commissions for the Dutch stadholder Frederik Hendrik, was repeatedly elected dean of the guild of St. Luke, and in 1656 was one of the founding members of The Hague painters' confraternity, "Pictura." Van de Venne painted histories, portraits, and genre scenes; from 1618, he was also active as a printmaker and book illustrator, notably for the popular poet Jacob Cats. His literary accomplishments included satire and political propaganda, as well as several books of poetry.