Jacob Campo Weyerman and His Collection of Artists’’ Biographies: An Art Critic at Work

Weyerman’s collection of artists’ biographies (1729) is exceptional for three reasons. Firstly, he includes a great number of painters not mentioned elsewhere. Secondly, he does not limit his selection to good artists only; he also discusses failed painters and their abortive careers. Thirdly, he writes as an art critic who does not hesitate to pass judgments, sometimes severe, on his chosen subjects.

In the process, Weyerman provides much information on the social and economic circumstances of art production. He found that a bohemian lifestyle was pernicious to a painter’s career, and argued that artists should live and think as merchants. In addition to analyzing Weyerman’s art critical terminology and his ideas on art theory, De Vries includes translations of two full chapters along with the original Dutch.

Lyckle de Vries (*1937) retired from Groningen University in 2000. Apart from writing monographic studies on 17th-century Dutch artists, he analysed contemporary printed sources on Dutch art and art theory, Gerard de Lairesse (1998, 2011), and Johan van Gool (1990).