Willem de Poorter(Haarlem? 1608 – after 1648 Haarlem?)

How to cite
Libby, Alexandra. “Willem de Poorter” (2017). In The Leiden Collection Catalogue, 3rd ed. Edited by Arthur K.
Wheelock Jr. and Lara Yeager-Crasselt. New York, 2020–23. https://www.theleidencollection.com/archive/ (archivedDecember 2023).
A PDF of every version of this biography is available in this Online Catalogue's Archive, and the Archive is managed bya permanent URL. New versions are added only when a substantive change to the narrative occurs.

The son of a Flemish émigré, Willem de Poorter was likely born in Haarlem in 1608.[1] The circumstances of his training
are not clear. It is often proposed that he studied with Rembrandt van Rijn (1606–69) in Leiden, about 1629–30.[2] Thattraining, however, may have occurred in Amsterdam as late as the mid-1630s, thereby constituting not a student-pupil
relationship so much as a mid-career supervision.[3] By 1633 De Poorter’s name appears in the Haarlem city archives,
where he is listed as a member of the Guild of Saint Luke by 1635.[4] Although he was documented as being in the villageof Wijk bij Heusden in 1645, he seems to have spent his career largely in Haarlem, where his name continues to appear in
the city’s archives until 1648.[5] The date and location of his death are not known.
According to Arnold Houbraken (1660–1719), De Poorter was a specialist of history and still-life painting, though only afew of the latter survive.[6] Today he is best known for his religious and mythological works, some of which bear stylistic
affinities to the early work of Rembrandt as well as to that of Rembrandt’s teacher, Pieter Lastman (1583–1633). Like
Rembrandt and Lastman, De Poorter set his scenes in large, dark interiors with a central grouping of figures differentiatedthrough animated expression and pose. Scholars have attributed these similarities to the proposition that De Poorter
studied with Rembrandt in Leiden around 1629–30.[7] As David De Witt and Adriaan Waiboer have argued, however, De
Poorter also took artistic cues from his fellow Haarlem artists.[8] His smooth manner of execution, figure types, and use ofbright localized colors against a monochrome background are closely reminiscent of the work of Hendrik Gerritsz Pot (ca.
1585–1657) and Pieter de Grebber (ca. 1600–52/53). Particularly in his early career, De Poorter was also known to freely
adapt from compositions by Hendrick Goltzius (1558–1617) and Maarten van Heemskerck (1498–1574).[9] Waiboer notesthat De Poorter’s work begins to exhibit Rembrandtesque qualities only in the mid-1630s, after he was recognized as anindependent painter, thus suggesting he was likely a follower, rather than a student, of the Dutch master.

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Willem de Poorter
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Page 3 of 4Endnotes
1. Hans Vollmer, Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler (Leipzig, 1933), 27: 259.
2. Ben Broos, “Poorter, Willem de,” Grove Art Online, Oxford Art Online, accessed September 27, 2016.
3. Adriaan Waiboer, “Willem de Poorter: Rembrandt/Not Rembrandt Pupil.” Journal of Historians ofNetherlandish Art 5, no. 2 (Summer 2013): 1–12, https://doi.org/10.5092/jhna.2013.5.2.12 (accessedOctober 13, 2016).
4. Adriaan van der Wiligen, Les Artistes de Haarlem (Haarlem, 1870; rev. ed., Nieuwkoop, 1970), 245.
5. David De Witt, The Bader Collection: Dutch and Flemish Paintings (Kingston, 2014), 250; Hans
Vollmer, Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler (Leipzig, 1933), 27: 259.
6. Arnold Houbraken, De groote schouburgh der Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen (Amsterdam,1718–21; rev. ed., The Hague, 1753; reprint, Amsterdam, 1980), 3: 61.
7. See note 2. For a summary of the scholarship devoted to De Poorter’s student-pupil relationship withRembrandt, see Adriaan Waiboer, “Willem de Poorter: Rembrandt/Not Rembrandt Pupil.” Journal ofHistoriansof

NetherlandishArt5,no.

2(Summer2013):

1–12, https://doi.org/10.5092/jhna.2013.5.2.12 (accessed October 13, 2016).
8. Adriaan Waiboer, “Willem de Poorter: Rembrandt/Not Rembrandt Pupil.” Journal of Historians ofNetherlandish Art 5, no. 2 (Summer 2013): 1–12, https://doi.org/10.5092/jhna.2013.5.2.12 (accessedOctober 13, 2016); David de Witt, The Bader Collection: Dutch and Flemish Paintings (Kingston, 2014),
250–51.
9. Adriaan Waiboer, “Willem de Poorter: Rembrandt/Not Rembrandt Pupil.” JHNA 5, no. 2 (Summer2013): 1–12, https://doi.org/10.5092/jhna.2013.5.2.12 (accessed October 13, 2016).

Literature
Houbraken, Arnold. De groote schouburgh der Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen. Amsterdam,
1718–21; revised edition published in The Hague, 1753; reprinted in Amsterdam, 1980, 3: 61.
Van der Wiligen, Adriaan. Les Artistes de Haarlem. Haarlem, 1870; revised edition pubished in
Nieuwkoop, 1970, 245.
Vollmer, Hans. Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler. Leipzig, 1933, 27: 259.
Broos, Ben. “Poorter, Willem de.” Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Accessed September 27, 2016.
Waiboer, Adriaan. “Willem de Poorter: Rembrandt/Not Rembrandt Pupil.” Journal of Historians ofNetherlandish Art 5, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.5092/jhna.2013.5.2.12.
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Willem de Poorter
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De Witt, David. The Bader Collection: Dutch and Flemish Paintings. Kingston, 2014, 250.
Horn, Hendrik J. and Rieke van Leeuwen. Houbraken Translated: Arnold Houbraken’s Great Theatre oftheNetherlandish

Painters

andPaintresses.

The

Hague,2021,

3:61[https://houbraken-translated.rkdstudies.nl/3-60-119/page-60-69/] (accessed December 5, 2022).

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