Meindert Hobbema

Dutch, 1638–1709

BiographyHobbema was baptized Meindert Lubbertsz on October 31, 1638, and later adopted the surname Hobbema. His mother died when he was a child and he and his two younger siblings were placed in the care of the Amsterdam orphanage. By 1655 Hobbema had left the orphanage and, presumably soon thereafter, entered the household of Jacob van Ruisdael, who became his mentor and presumed teacher. In July 1660 Ruisdael testified that Hobbema had served and studied with him for several years and was a man of good character.

In 1668 Hobbema was appointed one of the winegaugers (wynroyers) of Amsterdam, a socially prestigious sinecure which he held until his death on 7 December 1709. He was buried in the cemetery of the Westerkerk, the same church in which Rembrandt had been interred forty years earlier.

Virtually all of Hobbema's most important paintings date from the 1660s. He produced little after 1671, except for what has become his most celebrated picture, The Avenue at Middelharnis, dated 1689, now in The National Gallery in London.