Joachim Anthonisz Wtewael (also spelled Uytewael) (1566 – August 1, 1638), was a notable 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...

 painter

Painting

Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...

 and engraver.

Wtewael was born and died 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...

, where he began his career engraving glass with his father. In 1586, he began six years of voyaging through France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 and Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

, specifically Padua

Padua

Padua is a city and comune in the Veneto, northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Padua and the economic and communications hub of the area. Padua's population is 212,500 . The city is sometimes included, with Venice and Treviso, in the Padua-Treviso-Venice Metropolitan Area, having...

, where he began to paint.

Returning to Utrecht in 1592 at the age of twenty-five, Wtewael joined the saddlemakers’ guild

Guild

A guild is an association of craftsmen in a particular trade. The earliest types of guild were formed as confraternities of workers. They were organized in a manner something between a trade union, a cartel, and a secret society...

 as a painter and began producing paintings, drawings, engravings, and stained glass

Stained glass

The term stained glass can refer to coloured glass as a material or to works produced from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant buildings...

. One of the last Mannerist painters, Wtewael stuck to the tradition even as most painters adopted the naturalistic style. In 1596 he had a son Peter Wtewael

Peter Wtewael

Peter Wtewael was a Dutch Golden Age painter.-Biography:Wtewael was born in Utrecht, son of the Dutch painter and engraver Joachim Wtewael and brother to the painter Johan Wtewael. According to the RKD he is known as a follower of Caravaggio. He specialized in painting kitchen scenes and...

, who became a painter as well.

He became one of the leading Dutch exponents of Northern Mannerism

Northern Mannerism

Northern Mannerism is the term in European art history for the versions of Mannerism practiced in the visual arts north of the Alps in the 16th and early 17th century...

. His highly distinctive, charmingly artificial style, which remained untouched by the naturalistic developments happening around him, was characterized by acidic colours and elegant figures in wilfully distorted poses. The best collection of his work, including a self-portrait (1601), is in the Centraal Museum

Centraal Museum

The Centraal Museum is a museum in Utrecht, The Netherlands. The museum was founded in 1838. Initially, the collection - exhibited on the top floor of the Utrecht townhall - was limited to art related to the city of Utrecht...

, Utrecht.