Gerrit Battem
Encyclopedia
Gerrit Battem or Gerard van Battum (ca. 1636 - October 24, 1684 (buried)) was a superior Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 landscape painter.

Biography

Houbraken mentions drawings by Battem in the house of his patron Jonas van Witsen of Amsterdam, who bought them for 1300 guilders along with colored drawings by Adriaen van Ostade
Adriaen van Ostade
Adriaen van Ostade was a Dutch Golden Age painter of genre works.-Life:...

 in the 1670's

According to the RKD, he was the son of the painter Gerrit Batton and he was the stepson of Jacob de Villeers. His mother Elisabeth Furnerius was probably the aunt of the painter Abraham Furnerius
Abraham Furnerius
Abraham Furnerius , was a Dutch Golden Age draughtsman and painter, who was a pupil of Rembrandt.-Biography:...

 with whom he made a trip along the Rhine in 1650-1654.

Battem was born and died in Rotterdam, where he was mostly active. For three years he worked in Utrecht
Utrecht (city)
Utrecht city and municipality is the capital and most populous city of the Dutch province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, and is the fourth largest city of the Netherlands with a population of 312,634 on 1 Jan 2011.Utrecht's ancient city centre features...

, and his trip along the Rhine may have been a large inspiration for his topics. He painted perspective views, mountainous scenery, with shepherds, robbers, etc. therein, as well as winter scenes. He painted at the same time as Snellings, but his style of painting is broader and bolder. In the 1670s he is said to have also painted figures in Jacob van Ruisdael’s landscapes, though some doubt this.

Of greater value than the pictures of this artist are his designs, which are altogether superior, and bought dearly to adorn the first-rate collections.
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