Hendrik de Fromantiou was a Dutch

Dutch Republic

The Dutch Republic — officially known as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands , the Republic of the United Netherlands, or the Republic of the Seven United Provinces — was a republic in Europe existing from 1581 to 1795, preceding the Batavian Republic and ultimately...

 still life

Still life

A still life is a work of art depicting mostly inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which may be either natural or man-made...

 painter.

Early life

In his youth, he produced works for the art dealer Gerrit van Uylenburgh

Gerrit van Uylenburgh

Gerrit van Uylenburgh , or Gerrit Uylenburgh, was a Dutch Golden Age painter and art-dealer. He was the eldest son of Hendrick van Uylenburgh and took over the family art-dealing business after Hendrick's death and burial in the Westerkerk church in 1661...

 in Amsterdam

Amsterdam

Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...

 and from 1658 he was active 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...

.

Career

In 1670 he was appointed as conservator of the royal collection in Potsdam. In 1671, when Van Uylenburgh tried to sell 13 paintings to Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg

Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg

|align=right|Frederick William was Elector of Brandenburg and Duke of Prussia – and thus ruler of Brandenburg-Prussia – from 1640 until his death. A member of the House of Hohenzollern, he is popularly known as the "Great Elector" because of his military and political prowess...

, Fromantiou successfully advised the Elector to send 12 pieces back as forgeries. Fromantiou claimed the paintings were copies of Italian ones, and he could point out the originals in Holland. Included in the 51 people involved in the expertise, was Johannes Vermeer

Johannes Vermeer

Johannes, Jan or Johan Vermeer was a Dutch painter who specialized in exquisite, domestic interior scenes of middle class life. Vermeer was a moderately successful provincial genre painter in his lifetime...

.

Personal life

In 1672 he married the daughter of the rich and successful fellow Dutch painter Philip Wouwerman

Philip Wouwerman

Philips Wouwerman was a Dutch painter of hunting, landscape and battle scenes.-Life and Work:Philips Wouwerman was one of the most versatile and prolific artists of the Dutch Golden Age...

.

External links

• Vermeer and His Milieu: A Web of Social History By John Michael Montias, page 207
• http://www.berlin.de/berlin-chronik/.html/art1645-5.html
• Fromantiou at the Netherlands Institute for Art History