Old Flamingo Painting From The XVII Century

"Landscape with shepherds under the ruins" attributed to NICOLAES BERCHEM oil on canvas DIMENSIONS 95 X 132 CM Nicolaes Pietersz. Berchem (Haarlem, October 1, 1620 - Amsterdam, February 16, 1683) was a Dutch painter, specializing in pastoral scenes populated by mythological characters or biblical figures. He was born in Haarlem, son of the still life painter Pieter Claesz, who introduced him to the artistic world and taught him the first rudiments of painting. The surname Berchem, meanwhile, derives from the birthplace of the father. He deepens his knowledge, according to the reconstruction of various art historians, under the direction of Jan van Goyen, Jan Wils and Claes Cornelisz Moeyaert. According to many sources, Berchem traveled to Italy in a period prior to 1642, with the Dutch painter Hendrick Mommers and Jan Baptist Weenix, who was his cousin and of the same age and with whom he also shared the experience in the studio of Moeyaert. In fact, around 1642 his presence in the San Luca Guild in Haarlem is documented. Moeyaert's influence was most evident in the early years, as the Laban of 1643 attests. On October 2, 1646, he married Jan Wils' daughter, Catrijne Claesdr. De Groot. Around 1650, he moved to Westphalia with Jacob van Ruisdael and, after a second stay in Italy (1653-1656), he returned to his native country, to Amsterdam where he worked for Jan de Visscher. Midway through his career, his vast production focused primarily on harbor views, hunts, ruins in Latin and Roman landscapes, battles, and of course pastoral landscapes. In the period of maturity, in addition to favoring more showy colors, he approached Adriaen van de Velde. His artistic output is remarkable, given that his works amount to 850 pieces, including some sixty engravings and many important red chalk drawings. His Italian-style landscapes of ideal rural, hilly and mountainous environments have been embellished with human and animal figures partially inspired by the works of other artists, such as Allaert van Everdingen, Jan Hackaert, Gerrit Dou, Meindert Hobbema and Willem Schellinks. Berchem exerted a strong influence on the following generations of Dutch painters and various French Rococo painters, such as Jean-Baptiste Pillement and Jean-Baptiste Oudry. In addition, its artistic landscape lines will inspire many artists, such as François Boucher, Jean Pillement, Jean-Honoré Fragonard, and among the English Thomas Gainsborough. [1] His animal studies were also of some importance. He died in Amsterdam in 1683.