Wilhelmus Beurs (1656–1700) was a Dutch Golden Age painter.

Title page from 1692 book on the art of painting and paint-mixing called De groote waereld in 't kleen geschildert, of schilderagtigtafereel van 's weerelds schilderyen, kortelijk vervat in sesboeken, verklarende de hooftverwen, haare verscheidemengelingen in oly, en der zelver gebruik

Biography edit

Beurs was born in Dordrecht. According to Houbraken, he was the son of a shoemaker and a quick study who was able to produce a good landscape after only a year's instruction, though he later took up flower painting. Houbraken met him as a fellow pupil of Willem van Drielenburg in 1671.[1] Houbraken praised his book and reprinted one page of it as an example.[1]

According to the RKD he moved to Amsterdam in 1672 where he later married. In 1687 he moved to Zwolle, where from 1688 he gave painting lessons from his studio and where he wrote a book on the art of painting that was published in 1692.[2] He dedicated his book to his four pupils Aleida Greve, Anna Cornelia Holt, Sophia Holt, and Cornelia van Marle.[3] He is known for Italianate landscapes; still-life paintings are documented in archives but no longer known.[3] He died in Zwolle in 1700.

References edit

  1. ^ a b (in Dutch) Wilhelmus Beurs Biography in De groote schouburgh der Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen (1718) by Arnold Houbraken, courtesy of the Digital library for Dutch literature
  2. ^ Wilhelmus Beurs, De groote waereld in 't kleen geschildert, of schilderagtig tafereel van 's Weerelds schilderyen. Kortelijk vervat in ses boeken. Verklarende de hooftverwen, haare verscheide mengelingen in oly en der zelver gebruik, Amsterdam, published by Johannes and Gillis Janssonius van Waesberge, 1692
  3. ^ a b Wilhelmus Beurs in the RKD