Govaert Flinck(Kleve 1615 – 1660 Amsterdam)

How to cite
Bakker, Piet. “Govaert Flinck” (2017). In The Leiden Collection Catalogue, 2nd ed. Edited by Arthur K.
Wheelock Jr. New York, 2017–20. https://theleidencollection.com/artists/govaert-flinck/ (archived June 2020).
A PDF of every version of this biography is available in this Online Catalogue's Archive, and the Archive ismanaged by a permanent URL. New versions are added only when a substantive change to the narrative
occurs.

Govaert Flinck was born in the German city of Kleve, not far from the Dutch city of Nijmegen, on 25 January
1615. His merchant father, Teunis Govaertsz Flinck, was clearly prosperous, because in 1625 he wasappointed steward of Kleve, a position reserved for men of stature.[1] That Flinck would become a painter was
not apparent in his early years; in fact, according to Arnold Houbraken, the odds were against his pursuit ofthat interest. Teunis considered such a career unseemly and apprenticed his son to a cloth merchant. Flinck,
however, never stopped drawing, and a fortunate incident changed his fate. According to Houbraken,“Lambert Jacobsz, [a] Mennonite, or Baptist teacher of Leeuwarden in Friesland, came to preach in Kleve andvisit his fellow believers in the area.”[2] Lambert Jacobsz (ca. 1598–1636) was also a famous Mennonite
painter, and he persuaded Flinck’s father that the artist’s profession was a respectable one.
Around 1629, Govaert accompanied Lambert to Leeuwarden to train as a painter.[3] In Lambert’s workshop
Flinck met the slightly older Jacob Adriaensz Backer (1608–51), with whom he became lifelong friends. Bothlater moved to Amsterdam, where Backer established his own studio around 1633. According to Houbraken,
Flinck then decided to “train with Rembrandt for a year with the aim of becoming accustomed to his handlingof paint and way of painting, and in which he rapidly became so successful at imitating them that a number of
his works were mistaken for real paintings by Rembrandt and sold as such.”[4]It was long believed that Flinck left Leeuwarden in 1633, but recent research on the art dealer Hendrick van
Uylenburgh (ca. 1584/89–1661) suggests that late 1634 or early 1635 is more likely.[5] If Flinck spent a yearwith Rembrandt to master his style, this apprenticeship would have taken place in the Sint-Antoniebreestraat,
where Rembrandt ran Uylenburgh’s workshop from 1631 to 1635. When Rembrandt left Uylenburgh to starthis own studio in the Nieuwe Doelenstraat, Flinck took over for him either in late 1635 or early 1636. Just how
long he worked for Uylenburgh is not known, but it was probably several years. In 1637, after buying some© 2020 The Leiden Collection

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prints at auction, Flinck gave Uylenburgh’s shop as his address.
Once he had become independent, Flinck immediately benefited from an extensive and affluent circle ofcustomers. His mother was the sister of the Amsterdam cloth merchant Jacob Leeuw (1636–1704), and Flinck
painted the portraits of almost every member of Leeuw’s family. Moreover, because the Leeuw family was
related to the Amsterdam Mennonite elite through a number of marriages, Flinck found an important
Mennonite clientele beyond his immediate family. When the prosperous cloth merchant Jan Pietersz
Bruyningh (ca. 1600–46) died in 1646, he owned no fewer than eight paintings by Flinck.[6]The year 1645 marked several significant changes for Flinck. In the summer he married the Remonstrant
Ingetje Thovelingh (ca. 1620–51) of Rotterdam, daughter of a wealthy director of the Dutch East India
Company. Flinck, too, was not without means. In 1644 he had bought two adjacent houses in Amsterdam’s
Lauriergracht for the princely sum of 10,000 guilders. Shortly after he married, he built in this complex “a large
painting gallery with high windows … on the upper ledges of which stood busts of the emperors, many
handsome casts of the finest Antique marbles, and, hanging in between, all kinds of exotic robes, garments,
harnesses, rifles, and swords; also old expensive velvet, and other gold-embroidered decorations.”[7] This
ensemble was so extraordinary that Jan Vos (1610–67) dedicated a poem to it.[8]Another major change involved his style of painting. For a long time after he had trained with Rembrandt,
Flinck painted in a manner that was almost indistinguishable from that of his master. When in the early 1640s
the bon ton among the Amsterdam elite was to have oneself portrayed in the academic style blowing in fromFlanders at the time, Flinck decided to adapt to the new fashion. Weaning himself from Rembrandt’s style
proved difficult.[9] Flinck ultimately succeeded extraordinarily well in this, especially after he studied the works
of Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640) and Anthony van Dyck (1599–1641) on a trip to Antwerp shortly before his
wedding, probably around 1645.[10]To a certain extent, the year 1645 also signaled Flinck’s definitive breakthrough among members of the
Amsterdam patriciate. Flinck was no longer dependent on his family and its connections for commissions; henow had access to the highest social circles. As early as 1642 he had painted his first group portrait, namelyof the four regents of the Kloveniersdoelen.[11] In 1645 he was awarded an even more prestigious commission
from the same civic guard to paint the portraits of the company of Captain Albert Bas and Lieutenant Lucas
Conijn.[12] A regular buyer of his work was the famous burgomaster Joan Huydecoper (1599–1661), whose
company of militiamen Flinck portrayed to commemorate the Peace of Münster.[13] According to Houbraken,
Flinck also received commissions from the brothers Pieter (1612–80) and Jan Six (1618–1700), the latter ofwhom later became burgomaster. In 1655, for example, Flinck painted the portrait of Jan Six’s wife,
Margaretha Tulp (1634–1709), the daughter of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp (1593-1674).[14] Flinck also maintained aclose friendship with the “Lord mayors Cornelis and Andries de Graeff.” According to Houbraken, “the latter
visited [Flinck] at home on many occasions; and he was so familiar with the former that in the evening, tired
from painting, he often went to visit him uninvited.”[15] The patronage of the De Graeff family was also
expressed in Flinck’s painting of Andries (1611–78).[16]Flinck’s fame was not confined to Amsterdam. He maintained ties with his native Kleve, where he received
honorable and lucrative commissions from Frederick William (1620–88), Elector of Brandenburg and Duke of© 2020 The Leiden Collection

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Kleve. Frederick William married Louise Henrietta of Orange (1627–67), the eldest daughter of Stadholder
Frederik Hendrik (1584–1647), in Kleve in 1646, and two years later Flinck painted an allegory for them on theoccasion of the birth (and death) of their son, Prince William Henry (1648–49).[17] According to Houbraken,
many of the decorations in the artist’s painting gallery on the Lauriergracht came “from the old court of theDuke of Kleve,” whose great favor Flinck enjoyed.[18] This royal patron, whose likeness Flinck painted in
1652,[19] was so delighted by the master’s achievements that he presented him with a miniature portrait ofhimself encircled with diamonds.[20]Flinck also painted on several occasions Count Johan Maurits of Nassau-Siegen (1604–79), who on his returnfrom Brazil was made stadholder of Kleve by Frederick William.[21] It would have been through these influential
patrons that Flinck was introduced to the court in The Hague. Hence, in 1654, he received an important
commission from Amalia von Solms (1602–75) to paint an allegory in memory of her husband, Stadholder
Frederik Hendrik, who had died in 1647, to hang in her “grote cabinet” (large cabinet) in Huis ten Bosch
Palace.[22]Flinck’s most important commissions, however, came from Amsterdam. As a protégé of the De Graeffbrothers, Flinck benefited greatly from the commissions to decorate the new city hall on Dam Square. Hence,in 1656 he painted the monumental Consul Manius Curius Dentatus Refusing the Gifts of the Samnites[23] and,in 1658, an even larger picture of Solomon Praying for Wisdom for the council chamber.[24] In November 1659,
at the height of his fame, Flinck received his most distinguished commission, namely to paint twelve works forthe gallery of the town hall, known as the Batavian Series, in which he agreed to produce two canvases a year
for 1000 guilders each. Two months later, on 2 February 1660, before he had really begun working on thiscommission, Flinck died.[25]In the several years before his death, Flinck’s personal circumstances had changed dramatically. In 1651, five
years after the birth of their son Nicolaes Anthonis (1646–1723) and after a long illness, Ingetje Thovelingh
died of dropsy. That same year Flinck joined the Remonstrant community. He remained a widower for five
years before marrying Sofia van der Houven of Ghent in 1656. Joost van den Vondel (1587–1679) wrote apoem celebrating this marriage in which he eulogized Flinck’s artistic prowess.[26] The inventory of Flinck’s
possessions made shortly after his death reveals that he bequeathed a considerable fortune of more than
44,000 guilders to his son, Nicolaes Anthonis, including an exquisite collection of paintings, many of whichwere by him.

- Piet Bakker, 2017

© 2020 The Leiden Collection

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Endnotes

1. Unless stated otherwise, the information in this biography is taken from Petra Jeroense,“Govaert Flinck (1615–1660): Eine Künstlerbiographie,” Niederdeutsche Beiträge zur
Kunstgeschichte 63 (1997): 73–112.
2. “Een Lambert Jacobze, Mennonist, of Doopsgezind Leeraar te Leuwaerden in Frieslant, komt
te Kleef prediken en zyne Geloofsgenooten daar omstreeks bezoeken.” Arnold
Houbraken, De groote schouburgh der Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen(Amsterdam, 1718–21; rev. ed., The Hague, 1753; reprint, Amsterdam, 1980), 2: 20.
3. On Lambert Jacobsz, see Marijke van der Meij-Tolsma, “Lambert Jacobsz (c. 1598–1636):
Een Amsterdamse historieschilder te Leeuwarden,” De Zeventiende Eeuw 4 (1988): 29–54;
Piet Bakker, “Een schilder en zijn netwerk: Lambert Jacobsz en een nieuw beeld van dezeventiende-eeuwse schilderkunst in Friesland,” De Vrije Fries 88 (2008): 31–64.
4. “Een Jaar by Rembrandt te gaan leeren; ten einde hy zig die behandeling der verwen en
wyze van schilderen gewendde, welke hy in dien korten tyd zoodanig heeft weten na tebootzen dat verscheiden van zyne stukken voor echte penceelwerken van Rembrandt
wierden aangezien en verkocht.” Arnold Houbraken, De groote schouburgh der
Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen (Amsterdam, 1718–21; rev. ed., The Hague,
1753; reprint, Amsterdam, 1980), 2: 19–20.
5. Jaap van der Veen, “Het kunstbedrijf van Hendrick Uylenburgh in Amsterdam: Productie en
handel tussen 1625 en 1655,” in Uylenburgh & Art and Commerce from Rembrandt to De
Lairesse, 1625–1675, ed. Jaap van der Veen and Friso Lammertse (Exh. cat. London,
Dulwich Picture Gallery; Amsterdam, Museum Het Rembrandthuis) (Zwolle, 2006), 160.
6. Sebastien A.C. Dudok van Heel, “Doopsgezinden en schilderkunst in de 17e eeuw –Leerlingen, opdrachtgevers en verzamelaars van Rembrandt,” Doopsgezinde Bijdragen 6(1980): 105–23; Erna Kok, “Zonder vrienden geen carrière: De succesvolle loopbanen van dezeventiende-eeuwse kunstenaars Govert Flinck en Ferdinand Bol,” De Zeventiende Eeuw 27(2011): 314.
7. “Een groote schilderzaal met hooge lichten … op welker bovenlyst de Borstbeelden derKeyseren geplaatst stonden, vorder vele fraje afgietsels naar de geachtste marmere
Antiquen, en tusschen beide met velerhande vremde gewaden, kleederen, harnassen, schieten steekgeweer behangen; als ook oude kostelyke fluweele, en andere met goudgeborduurde behangsels.” Arnold Houbraken, De groote schouburgh der Nederlantsche
konstschilders en schilderessen (Amsterdam, 1718–21; rev. ed., The Hague, 1753; reprint,
Amsterdam, 1980), 2: 22; Sebastien A.C. Dudok van Heel, “Het ‘schilderhuis’ van Govaert
Flinck en de kunsthandel van Uylenburch aan de Lauriersgracht te Amsterdam,” Jaarboek© 2020 The Leiden Collection

Govaert Flinck
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van het Genootschap Amstelodamum 74 (1982): 70–78.
8. Jan Vos, Alle de Gedichten van den poëet Jan Vos (Amsterdam, 1727) 319–20; quoted in
Sebastien A.C. Dudok van Heel, “Het ‘schilderhuis’ van Govert Flinck en de kunsthandel
van Uylenburgh aan de Lauriergracht te Amsterdam,” Jaarboek van het Genootschap
Amstelodamum 74 (1982): 73.
9. Arnold Houbraken, De groote schouburgh der Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen(Amsterdam, 1718–21; rev. ed., The Hague, 1753; reprint, Amsterdam, 1980), 2: 21.
10. Josua Bruyn, “Book Review: Sumowski’s Gemälde der Rembrandt-Schüler, II,” Oud
Holland 101 (1987): 226. Bruyn dates a journey to Antwerp to “around 1645” andsubstantiates this date with Flinck’s Bust of an Old Man and Portrait of a Man, both dated
1645, which Bruyn regards as Flinck’s first departure from Rembrandt’s style; Werner
Sumowski, Gemälde der Rembrandt-Schüler. Vol. 2, G. van den Eeckhout – I. de
Joudreville (Landau, 1983), 1035, no. 682, and 1038, no. 700.
11. The Four Regents of the Arquebusiers Civic Guard, signed and dated 1642 (Rijksmuseum,
Amsterdam). Joachim Wolfgang von Moltke, Govaert Flinck (1615–1660) (Amsterdam, 1965),
166, no. 475; Werner Sumowski, Gemälde der Rembrandt-Schüler. Vol. 2, G. van den
Eeckhout – I. de Joudreville (Landau, 1983), 1040, no. 714.
12. The Company of Albert Bas and Lucas Conijn, signed and dated 1645 (Rijksmuseum,
Amsterdam). Joachim Wolfgang von Moltke, Govaert Flinck (1615–1660) (Amsterdam, 1965),
167, no. 477; Werner Sumowski, Gemälde der Rembrandt-Schüler. Vol. 2, G. van den
Eeckhout – I. de Joudreville (Landau, 1983), 1041, no. 715.
13. Civic Guardsmen of the Company of Captain Joan Huydecoper and Lieutenant Frans van
Waveren, signed and dated 1648 (Amsterdam Museum). Joachim Wolfgang vonMoltke, Govaert Flinck (1615–1660) (Amsterdam, 1965), 166, no. 476; Werner
Sumowski, Gemälde der Rembrandt-Schüler. Vol. 2, G. van den Eeckhout – I. de Joudreville(Landau, 1983), 1041, no. 717.
14. Portrait of Margaretha Tulp, signed and dated 1655 (Staatliche Museen, Kassel). Joachim
Wolfgang von Moltke, Govaert Flinck (1615–1660) (Amsterdam, 1965), 149, no. 401; Werner
Sumowski,GemäldederRembrandt-Schüler.

Vol.

5,

Nachträge,

Ortsregister,

Ikonographisches Register, Bibliographie (Landau, 1994), 1983, 3101, no. 2088.
15. “Heeren Borgemeesteren Kornelis en Andries de Graeff … komende de laatste hem dikwils tezynen huize bezoeken; en by den eerst gemelden was hy zoo gemeenzaam in denommegang, dat hy dikwils des avonds moede van schilderen, ongenood hem ging
bezoeken.” Arnold Houbraken, De groote schouburgh der Nederlantsche konstschilders en
schilderessen (Amsterdam, 1718–21; rev. ed., The Hague, 1753; reprint, Amsterdam, 1980),
2: 20.
16. Portrait of Andries de Graeff (1611–1678), ca. 1650 (Toshikazu Kaida Collection, Tokyo);© 2020 The Leiden Collection

Govaert Flinck
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Joachim Wolfgang von Moltke, Govaert Flinck (1615–1660) (Amsterdam, 1965), 107, no.
205.
17. Allegory of the Birth and Death of Wilhelm Heinrich of Brandenburg, ca. 1649 (Neues Palais,
Potsdam). The painting was completed in two phases following the early death of Prince
William Henry. Joachim Wolfgang von Moltke, Govaert Flinck (1615–1660) (Amsterdam,
1965), 39, 92, no. 120; Werner Sumowski, Gemälde der Rembrandt-Schüler. Vol. 2, G. vanden Eeckhout – I. de Joudreville (Landau, 1983), 1025, no. 631.
18. “Uit het oude Hof van den Hartog van Kleef.” Arnold Houbraken, De groote schouburgh der
Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen (Amsterdam, 1718–21; rev. ed., The Hague,
1753; reprint, Amsterdam, 1980), 2: 22. An indication that Flinck had worked for the elector
previously is found in the diary of Frisian Stadholder William Henry (1613–64). When he spent
the summers of 1647 and 1648 at the elector’s court in Kleve, he noted three times that hehad had himself portrayed in the “schilderhuys” (painter’s house), unfortunately without
mentioning by whom. One or more of these sittings may have been for the portrait by Flinck(which can no longer be identified) of Stadholder William Henry, oil on panel, 75 x 63 cm.
Joachim Wolfgang von Moltke, Govaert Flinck (1615–1660) (Amsterdam, 1965), 110, no.
215; P.H.D. Leupen, Gloria Parendi: Dagboeken van Willem Frederik, Stadhouder van
Friesland, Groningen en Drente, 1643–1649, 1651–1654 (The Hague, 1995), 432, 433, 543.
19. Portrait of Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg (1620–1688), signed and dated 1652
(Stiftung Preussissche Schlösser und Gärten Berlin-Brandenburg, Schloss Charlottenburg,
Berlin); Joachim Wolfgang von Moltke, Govaert Flinck (1615–1660) (Amsterdam, 1965), 106,
no. 198; Werner Sumowski, Gemälde der Rembrandt-Schüler. Vol. 2, G. van den Eeckhout –I. de Joudreville (Landau, 1983), 1039, no. 705.
20. “dathyzyn

pourtret

met

Diamenaten

omzet

aan

hem

vereerde.”

Arnold Houbraken, De groote schouburgh der Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen(Amsterdam, 1718–21; rev. ed., The Hague, 1753; reprint, Amsterdam, 1980), 2: 22.
21. Flinck painted Johan Maurits in 1653 and 1658. Neither portrait can now be found. The
painting from 1653 is known solely from a print by Cornelis van Dalen. Only a copy exists ofthe second; see Joachim Wolfgang von Moltke, Govaert Flinck (1615–1660) (Amsterdam,
1965), 110, no. 120.
22. Allegory in Memory of Frederik Hendrik, Prince of Orange, with a Portrait of His Widow
Amalia von Solms, signed and dated 1654 (Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam); Joachim Wolfgang
von Moltke, Govaert Flinck (1615–1660) (Amsterdam, 1965), 92, no. 118; Werner
Sumowski, Gemälde der Rembrandt-Schüler. Vol. 2, G. van den Eeckhout – I. de Joudreville(Landau,1983),

1025,

no.

636.

See

also

Peter

van

der

Ploeg

and

CarolaVermeeren, Princely Patrons: The Collection of Frederick Henry of Orange and Amalia ofSolms (Exh. cat. The Hague, Mauritshuis) (Zwolle, 1997), 128–31, no. 8.
23. Consul Manius Curius Dentatus Refusing the Gifts of the Samnites, signed and dated 1656
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Govaert Flinck
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(RoyalPalace,Amsterdam);

Joachim

WolfgangvonMoltke,GovaertFlinck(1615–1660) (Amsterdam, 1965), 90, no. 113; Werner Sumowski, Gemälde der RembrandtSchüler. Vol. 2, G. van den Eeckhout – I. de Joudreville (Landau, 1983), 1026, no. 638.
24. Solomon Praying for Wisdom, signed and dated 1658 (Royal Palace, Amsterdam); Joachim
Wolfgang von Moltke, Govaert Flinck (1615–1660) (Amsterdam, 1965), 71, no. 30; Werner
Sumowski, Gemälde der Rembrandt-Schüler. Vol. 2, G. van den Eeckhout – I. de Joudreville(Landau, 1983), 1027, no. 640.
25. For the historical context of this commission, see Margriet van Eikema Hommes and E.
Froment, “’Een doek van geene beteekenis’: De nachtelijke samenzwering van Claudius
Civilis in het Schakerbos van Govert Flinck en Jürgen Ovens technisch onderzocht,” Oud
Holland 124 (2011): 144–49.
26. J.F.M. Sterck et al., eds. De Werken van Vondel. Vol. 10, 1663–1674 (Amsterdam, 1935),
199.

Literature
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Arnold.

DegrooteschouburghderNederlantsche

konstschilders

enschilderessen. Amsterdam, 1718–21; revised edition published in The Hague, 1753; reprinted
in Amsterdam, 1980, 2: 18–27.
Von Moltke, Joachim Wolfgang. Govaert Flinck (1615–1660). Amsterdam, 1965.
Dudok van Heel, Sebastien A.C. “Het ‘schilderhuis’ van Govaert Flinck en de kunsthandel
van Uylenburch aan de Lauriersgracht te Amsterdam.” Jaarboek van het Genootschap
Amstelodamum 74 (1982): 70–90.
Sumowski, Werner. Gemälde der Rembrandt-Schüler. Vol. 2, G. van den Eeckhout – I. de
Joudreville. Landau, 1983, 998–1151.
Sumowski, Werner. Gemälde der Rembrandt-Schüler. Vol. 6, Nachträge 2, Ortsregister,
Ikonographisches Register, Bibliographie, Künstlerverzeichnis. Landau, 1994, 3707–12.
Jeroense, Petra. “Govaert Flinck (1615–1660): Eine Künstlerbiographie.” Niederdeutsche
Beiträge zur Kunstgeschichte 63 (1997): 73–112.
Lammertse, Friso, and Jaap van der Veen, eds. Uylenburgh & Son: Art and Commerce from
Rembrandt to De Lairesse, 1625–1675. Exh. cat. London, Dulwich Picture Gallery;
Amsterdam Museum Het Rembrandthuis. Zwolle, 2006.

© 2020 The Leiden Collection