During the Eighty Years’ War, he loses contact with his parents, and a painter – Pieter Pietersz – has become his first teacher. In those years, he could not know that he would become a famous painter of the Mannerist school of Haarlem, painting large canvases in biblical or mythological subject, often with stylized characters, and even in grotesque poses. He continued his studies in Rouen and Antwerp, painting mainly portraits, but by changing his style, to the Flemish realism. Mannerism that, with the crisis of humanistic ideals, originated in the Italian Renaissance. The forms of expression of artistic creativity, they begin to perceive the world instability, insecurity of human destiny in the power of irrational forces, to express in images the inner landscape that lives in the soul of the artist. All this happens through the dramatization of images, exaggerated expression of postures and movements, the creation of the figures and coloristic dissonances of light. Influenced by Bartholomeus Spranger, he painted numerous portraits, with particular attention to the study of the anatomy of the body. Around 1600, the size of his works are reduced and his paintings become pictorially most sincere and interesting, because his architectural knowledge are reflected in the search for new colors and expressive means. In 1583 he receives, from the city of Haarlem, the assignment to paint the “Banquet of the Civic Guard,” and it is from this moment that his reputation began to spread, creating portraits. With other painters, he created the Academy of Mannerist Haarlem, sharing with them the place to discuss art and work. Among his works, the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam you can admire “Bathsheba Bathing”, but you will need to go to the Frans Hals Museum in Haarlem, let your eyes be dazzled by the beauty of a group portrait, the “Banquet of the Civic Guard”. You can see more on Meeting Benches, looking for: CORNELIS VAN HAARLEM (1562/1638), DUTCH PAINTER – The brand of Mannerism: complex nudes in twisted poses, besides mythological and kitchen scenes
