The Confrerie Pictura was a more or less academic club of artists founded in 1656 in The Hague

The Hague

The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...

, (The Netherlands) by local art painters, who were unsatisfied by the Guild of Saint Luke

Guild of Saint Luke

The Guild of Saint Luke was the most common name for a city guild for painters and other artists in early modern Europe, especially in the Low Countries. They were named in honor of the Evangelist Luke, the patron saint of artists, who was identified by John of Damascus as having painted the...

 there.

History

The guild of St. Luke in the Hague existed already in the 15th century and like most large Dutch cities, it catered not just to painters, but were united also with glazier

Glazier

A Glazier is a construction professional who selects, cuts, installs, replaces, and removes residential, commercial, and artistic glass. Glaziers also install aluminum storefront frames and entrances, glass handrails and balustrades, shower enclosures, curtain wall framing and glass and mirror...

s, engravers, sculptors, goldsmiths, printers and book sellers. In those days guilds were represented in churches with their own altars, and in the case of the painters' guild, they were sponsored by the church, and sometimes even ensured an income for church fathers through donations to the St. Luke's altar. After the Protestant Reformation

Protestant Reformation

The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...

, this all changed, and the churches were no longer a part of guild life. With the altarpieces gone that had traditionally been the public signboard for the artists, a new venue was necessary for sales. In addition, with the influx of talented painters from the Southern Netherlands cities such as Antwerp, the guild fathers felt that more protective measures were necessary. When securing a new protective charter for the St. Luke's guild failed to have the desired effect, the Confrerie Pictura was set up by 48 dissatisfied painters. They were led by the first deacon and popular Hague portrait painter Adriaen Hanneman

Adriaen Hanneman

Adriaen Hanneman was a Dutch Golden Age painter best-known today for his portraits of the exiled British royal court. His style was strongly influenced by his contemporary, Anthony Van Dyck.-Biography:...

.

Among the founders were Willem Doudijns

Willem Doudijns

-Biography:According to the RKD he learned to draw from Alexander le Petit, and he spent 12 years in Italy. He returned home in 1661, where he collaborated with Jan de Bisschop on engravings. Both he and Bisschop were founding members of the Confrerie Pictura and Doudijns painted a large ceiling...

 (1630-1697), Jacob van der Does

Jacob van der Does

Jacob van der Does was a Dutch Golden Age landscape painter.-Biography:Van der Does was the son of the secretary of the Amsterdam city council. He was more attracted to the arts than to note-taking, and went to study drawing with Claes Corneliszoon Moeyaert. He left at 21 to go to France, and from...

 (1623-1673), Jan de Bisschop

Jan de Bisschop

Jan de Bisschop, also known as Johannes Episcopius , was a lawyer, who became a Dutch Golden Age painter and engraver.-Biography:...

 (1628-1671), Theodor van der Schuer

Theodor van der Schuer

Theodor van der Schuer , was a Dutch Golden Age painter.-Biography:According to Houbraken he travelled to Italy where he joined the Bentvueghels with the nickname "Vrientschap", or friendship...

, Dirck van der Lisse

Dirck van der Lisse

Dirck van der Lisse was a Dutch Golden Age painter.-Biography:Van der Lisse was born in The Hague. He learned to paint from Cornelis van Poelenburch, and later lived in Utrecht from 1626, alternating between Utrecht and The Hague between 1635 and 1640...

, Daniel Mijtens the Younger

Daniel Mijtens the Younger

Daniël Mijtens the Younger , was a Dutch Golden Age painter and the son of Daniel Mytens the Elder.-Biography:According to Houbraken he travelled to Italy where he joined the Bentvueghels with the nickname "Bontekraay"....

, Johannes Mytens

Johannes Mytens

Johannes Mytens or Jan Mijtens was a Dutch Golden Age painter.Mytens was born in The Hague. According to Houbraken, Johannes Mijtens was trained by Anthony van Opstal and later by Nicolas van der Horst. Both of his uncles, Isaac Mijtens and Daniël Mijtens, were painters, and his son Cornelis...

, Willem van Diest

Willem van Diest

Willem van Diest , was a Dutch Golden Age seascape painter.-Biography:According to the RKD he was the father of the painter Jeronymus van Diest and a follower of Jan van Goyen, Jan Porcellis and Simon de Vlieger. In 1656 he helped set up the Confrerie Pictura.-References:...

, Adriaen van de Venne

Adriaen van de Venne

Adriaen Pietersz van de Venne , was a versatile Dutch Golden Age painter of allegories, genre subjects and portraits, as well as a miniaturist, book-illustrator and designer of political satires and a versifier.-Biography:...

, Robbert Duval, Joris van der Haagen

Joris van der Haagen

Joris Abrahamsz van der Haagen was a Dutch Golden Age painter specialized in landscapes.-Biography:...

 and Augustinus Terwesten

Augustinus Terwesten

Augustinus Terwesten was a Dutch painter of portraits, architectural, and historical themes.-Early years in the Hague:...

.

Charter of 1656

The goal of the Confrerie Pictura was to protect the Hague painters and to reinforce ties between its members. Everyone working as a painter in The Hague was obliged to be a member of the Confrerie. Guilds installed strict rules to restrict what was seen as unfair trading, but also obliged its members to attend the funerals of its members for instance.
The Confrerie had a set of 28 rules. One important rule was that its members were obliged to exhibit their works permanently at their meeting room. As soon as a work had been sold it had to be replaced by a new one.
The Confrerie started meeting upstairs at the Boterwaag building, where butter was traded at the Prinsegracht. They paid rent by donating a painting to the city council. The Confrerie was gouverned by a deacon

Deacon

Deacon is a ministry in the Christian Church that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions...

 (deken), three governors (hoofdmannen) and a secretary, who were chosen every two years by the Magistrate

Magistrate

A magistrate is an officer of the state; in modern usage the term usually refers to a judge or prosecutor. This was not always the case; in ancient Rome, a magistratus was one of the highest government officers and possessed both judicial and executive powers. Today, in common law systems, a...

 of The Hague.

Haagsche Teekenacademie

Later, in the 1680's the Confrerie received a somewhat better place at the Koorenhuis, the building where wheat was traded, also on the Prinsegracht. They had four separate rooms at the upper floor of this building, one of which was occupied by the Haagsche Teekenacademie (the drawing academy of The Hague), founded in 1682 by five members of the Confrerie, which later moved to the Princessegracht 4, current location of the Koninklijke Academie van Beeldende Kunsten (Royal Arts Academy). The founding five members of this group were Doudijns, Mytens, Terwesten, Duval and Van der Schuer.

Legacy

Paying dues to a second Confrerie in addition to the guild of St. Luke proved too expensive for most painters, however protective it was, and the confrerie later was dissolved in 1682, in favor of a proper school called Royal Academy of Art (The Hague)

Royal Academy of Art (The Hague)

The Royal Academy of Art, The Hague is an art academy in the Netherlands. It is the oldest art academy in Europe. Known in Dutch as "Koninklijke Academie van Beeldende Kunsten, Den Haag" it was founded on 29 September 1682 when its predecessor, the Haagsche Teekenakademie was dissolved.- External...

, which still exists today. The original building is undergoing a restoration and expansion, but still exists (though damaged in the second world war) on the Prinsessegracht 4 in the Hague. Many original works of the founders and early members can be seen in the buildings decorations.