Pieter de Grebber(Haarlem ca. 1600 – 1652/53 Haarlem)

How to cite
Bakker, Piet. “Pieter de Grebber” (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/ (archived December2023).
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.

Many Catholic artists worked in the Northern Netherlands in the seventeenth century, but only a few of them expressed
their faith in their art. Among them was Pieter de Grebber, much of whose work is Catholic in character, in terms of bothhis outspoken Catholic subject matter and his use of light and staging. Most of these works had a devotional function orplayed a role during Mass. Even though Catholicism had officially been forbidden in the Dutch Republic since
the Alteratie (Alteration) in 1578, this did not prevent worshippers from gathering clandestinely. The Catholic Church thus
remained active, especially in Haarlem, which had an extremely energetic chapter that awarded many major commissions
primarily between 1590 and 1640.
No Haarlem painter profited more from this patronage than De Grebber who, in addition to great artistic talent, had closefamily ties with the clergy. He received numerous commissions from many clandestine churches outside of Haarlem as
well, and painted some altarpieces for churches in Bruges and Ghent.[1] De Grebber became the leading representative of astyle of history painting now known as Haarlem Classicism, which was inspired by the classicizing Baroque style that PeterPaul Rubens (1577–1640) had introduced into Southern Netherlandish painting. Stadholder Frederik Hendrik(1584–1647), whose taste reflected that of other European rulers, favored this classicism. This may explain why he gave
De Grebber major commissions for his royal palaces of Honselaarsdijk (1638), Noordeinde (1646), and Huis ten Bosch(1648–50) from the late 1630s on, just as the Catholic community in Haarlem was losing momentum and local patronage
was dwindling.[2]Pieter de Grebber was born in Haarlem around 1600, the eldest son of the devout Catholic history and portrait painterFrans Pietersz de Grebber (1573–1649) and Hillegart van Lijnhoven (d. 1643).[3] His sister Maria (1602–80), whosedaughter would later marry Gabriel Metsu (1629–67), and his brother Albert (1613–58) also became painters; anotherbrother, Maurits (160–76), took up silversmithing. In his Harlemias of 1648, Theodorus Schrevelius (1572–1649) notedthat Pieter’s first teacher was his father, “but Pieter de Grebber far surpassed his father.”[4] According to Schrevelius, he© 2024 The Leiden Collection

Pieter de GrebberPage 2 of 4

went on to study with the renowned history painter, draughtsman and engraver Hendrick Goltzius (1558–1617), and withsuccess, “for this Pieter de Grebber is as skilled in devising inventions as neat in painting, and so deserves to be counted
among the best painters of our century.”[5]De Grebber’s father acted as an intermediary in a transaction between Rubens and the English envoy Sir Dudley Carleton(1573–1632) in The Hague in 1618.[6] Later that year, De Grebber accompanied his father to Antwerp, where he becameacquainted with the famed Flemish master whose work he thus saw firsthand. De Grebber’s earliest paintings date from1622, but he must have already been well known in Haarlem given that Samuel Ampzing (1590–1632) had praised the “deGrebbers” in a preliminary version of his famous city chronicle in 1621.[7] Seven years later, in the definitive version of hisBeschrijvinge ende lof der stad Haerlem, Ampzing again expressed his admiration of Pieter de Grebber as a history painter,mentioning not only his father, but also his sister Maria, “Now I must mention Grebber and praise the father and son as
well as the daughter.”[8] According to Schrevelius, De Grebber worked for some time in Denmark, although such a sojournabroad is undocumented.
Besides the Catholic Church, secular institutions also sought out De Grebber. In 1628 he painted the magisterial Acts ofMercy for the Old Men’s Home in Haarlem,[9] and two years later the city council ordered a tapestry design and a painting
illustrating the conferring of the sword on the coat of arms of Haarlem.[10] Given these official commissions, it is curiousthat he did not enter the Haarlem Guild of Saint Luke until 1632, and then, unlike his father, was never appointed to aguild position.
De Grebber was honored both in his native city and elsewhere. In Leiden (home of the painter Claes Lourisz van Egmond(1575–1639), a first cousin of Pieter’s father) Philips Angel (1618–64) extolled De Grebber in his Lof derSchilder-Konst (1642) for his mastery of human anatomy, especially his “manifold investigations and marvelously close
observations” of the changes the body displays when in motion.[11] De Grebber was also an art theorist. In 1649 theHaarlem printer Casteleyn published De Grebber’s pamphlet outlining eleven rules of art, which were taken largely from
Karel van Mander (1548–1606).[12]De Grebber never married. He died sometime between 24 September 1652 and 29 January 1653, the day when his housein the Beguinage, which he bought in 1634, was sold. The will he had drawn up has been lost, and no inventory of hisestate has come down to us. In addition to paintings, De Grebber left behind many drawings and a few etchings.
Approximately seventy pictures are now attributed to him with certainty, including about twenty portraits, a number ofwhich feature prominent Catholic priests.

- Piet Bakker, 2017

© 2024 The Leiden Collection

Pieter de Grebber
Page 3 of 4Endnotes
1. Paul Dirkse, “Pieter de Grebber: Haarlems schilder tussen begijnen, kloppen en pastors,” in Begijnen,pastoors en predikanten. Religie en kunst in de Gouden Eeuw (Leiden, 2001), 116–27; Xander van Eck,
“Resuscitating a Languishing Bishopric: Pieter de Grebber and the Haarlem Chapter,” Bulletin van het
Rijksmuseum 52 (2004): 371–78; Xander van Eck, “The Haarlem Painters and Their Patrons,”in Clandestine Splendor: Paintings for the Catholic Church in the Dutch Republic (Zwolle, 2007), 81–109.
2. The work that De Grebber provided for Honselaarsdijk and Noordeinde palaces has not been preserved.
For De Grebber and the commissions granted him by Frederik Hendrik and Amalia van Solms(1602–75), see D.F. Slothouwer, De Paleizen van Frederik Hendrik (Leiden, 1945), passim; D.P. Snoep,“Honselaarsdijk: restauraties op papier,” Oud Holland 84 (1969): 282–83; Ruud Meischke, “De grote
trap van het huis Honselaarsdijk, 1633–1638,” Nederlands Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek 31 (1980): 86–103;
Jan Gerrit van Gelder, “De schilders van de Oranjezaal,” Nederlands Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek 2(1948–49): 151–52, 154; M. van Eikema Hommes, “Pieter de Grebber and the Oranjezaal in Huis tenBosch. Part I: The Regulen (1649),” Art Matters 3 (2005): 20–36; Margriet van Eikema Hommes andLidwien Speleers, “Pieter de Grebber and the Oranjezaal in Huis ten Bosch. Part II: Variations inPainting Technique,” Art Matters 3 (2005): 37–46.
3. Unless otherwise noted, all biographical information on Pieter de Grebber is taken from Irene van ThielStroman, “Pieter Fransz de Grebber,” in Painting in Haarlem 1500–1850: The Collection of the Frans
Hals Museum, ed. Pieter Biesboer and Neeltje Köhler (Ghent, 2006), 168–72.
4. “MaerPieter

GrebberheeftsijnVader

Grebberverdeover-treft.”

Theodorus

Schrevelius, Harlemias (Haarlem, 1648), 382.
5. “[W]ant dese Pieter de Grebber is soo geluckigh in inventie als suyver in ’t schilderen dat hy by de beste
Schilders onser eeuwe meriteert gestelt te worden.” Theodorus Schrevelius, Harlemia (Haarlem, 1648),
382.
6. De Grebber met Rubens in June 1612 during his first visit to the Northern Netherlands. R. de Smet,“Een nauwkeurige datering van Rubens’ eerste reis naar Holland in 1612,” in Jaarboek van het
Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten (1977), 199–218. For the transaction, see the biography ofPeter Paul Rubens in this catalogue.
7. Irene van Thiel-Stroman, “Pieter Fransz de Grebber,” in Painting in Haarlem 1500–1850: The Collectionof the Frans Hals Museum, ed. Pieter Biesboer and Neeltje Köhler (Ghent, 2006), 168, refers to SamuelAmpzing, Het lof der stadt Haerlem in Hollandt (Haarlem, 1621).
8. “Nu moet ik Grebber noemen / Den Vader, ende Soon en ook de Dochter roemen.” SamuelAmpzing, Beschryvinge ende lof der stad Haerlem (Haarlem, 1628), 370.
9. The Acts of Mercy, monogrammed and dated 1628 (Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem).
10. The German Emperor Frederick II Conferring on Haarlem the Sword and the Patriarch of Jerusalem© 2024 The Leiden CollectionPowered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

Pieter de Grebber
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Conferring the Silver Cross and the Augmentation of Coat of Arms after the Conquest of Damiate (1219),
monogrammed and dated 1630 (Town Hall, Haarlem).
11. “[M]enichfuldighe ondersoeckinge en wonder naeuwe waerneminge.” Philips Angel, Lof derSchilderkunst (Leiden, 1642), 52–53.
12. Pieter J.J. van Thiel, “De Grebbers regels van de kunst,” Oud Holland 80 (1965): 126–31.

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, 2: 122.
Van Thiel, Pieter J.J. “De Grebbers regels van de kunst.” Oud Holland 80 (1965): 126–31.
Van Thiel-Stroman, Irene. “Pieter Fransz de Grebber.” In Judith Leyster: A Dutch Master and Her
World. Edited by Pieter Biesboer and James A. Welu, 220–21. Exh. cat. Haarlem, Frans Halsmuseum;Worcester, Worcester Art Museum. New Haven, 1993.
Sutton, Peter C. “Pieter de Grebber.” In Dutch Classicism in Seventeenth-Century Painting. Edited byAlbert Blankert, 116–43. Exh. cat. Rotterdam, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen; Frankfurt am Main,
Städelsches Kunstinstitut. Rotterdam, 1999.
Dirkse, Paul. “Pieter de Grebber: Haarlems schilder tussen begijnen, kloppen en pastors.” In Begijnen,pastoors en predikanten. Religie en kunst in de Gouden Eeuw. Leiden, 2001, 116–27.
Van Eck, Xander. “Resuscitating a Languishing Bishopric: Pieter de Grebber and the Haarlem Chapter.”
Bulletin van het Rijksmuseum 52 (2004): 371–78.
Van Thiel-Stroman, Irene. “Pieter Fransz de Grebber.” In Painting in Haarlem 1500–1850: The
Collection of the Frans Hals Museum. Edited by Pieter Biesboer and Neeltje Köhler, 168–72. Ghent,2006.
Van Eck, Xander. “The Haarlem Painters and Their Patrons.” In Clandestine Splendor: Paintings for theCatholic Church in the Dutch Republic. Zwolle, 2007, 81–109.
Schnackenburg, Bernhard. “Jan Lievens und Pieter de Grebber.” Wallraf-Richartz-Jahrbuch 68 (2007),181–218
Harrington, Margaret. “Reclaiming the ‘Ancient Luster’ of Painting: Pieter de Grebber’s Regulen andHaarlem Classicism.” PhD diss., University of Maryland, 2012.
Horn, Hendrik J. and Rieke van Leeuwen. Houbraken Translated: Arnold Houbraken’s Great Theatre oftheNetherlandishPaintersandPaintresses.

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© 2024 The Leiden Collection