Pieter Cornelisz van Slingelandt

Dutch Golden Age painter (1640–1691)

Pieter Cornelisz van Slingelandt
'Self-portrait in oval frame.
Born	Pieter Cornelisz 1640 Leiden
Died	1691 (aged 50–51) Leiden
Nationality	Dutch
Known for	Painting
Movement	Fijnschilder

Pieter Cornelisz van Slingelandt (20 October 1640 – 7 November 1691) was a Dutch Golden Age portrait painter who had been a pupil of Gerard Dou and is known as one of Leiden's fijnschilders.

Biography

According to Houbraken, his teacher was Gerard Dou, whom he imitated so well that many of his works were later misattributed to him.^[1] He was rather introverted and very methodical and conscientious, spending months on his works and striving for perfection.^[1] Houbraken especially liked a piece where a maid holds a mouse by the tail as a cat jumps for it.^[1]

Houbraken wrote that Slingelandt took 3 years to paint a family portrait for the gentleman Mr. Meerman, and that he took 6 weeks to paint the lace of one child's bib.^[1] That painting currently hangs in the Louvre.^[2]

According to the RKD he became a member of the Leiden Guild of St. Luke on November 22, 1661.^[3] He remained a member until 1668, and after a break of five years began paying dues again from 1673-1680.^[3] In 1690 he became headman, and in 1691 deacon of the guild.^[3] Though he appears in the catalogue raisonné of C. Hofstede de Groot, the only painting mentioned there is one that is no longer attributed to Slingelandt.^[3] His pupils were Jacob van der Sluys, and Jan Tilius.^[3] Adriaen van Gaesbeeck, who was also sometimes mentioned as a pupil of Slingelandt, was in reality 19 years older and died when Slingelandt was only 9 years old.

Portrait of the Meerman Family
Breakfast of a Young Man (second half of 17th century), Hermitage Museum
A young lacemaker is interrupted by a birdseller who offers her ware through the window, 1672-3.

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d (in Dutch) Pieter van Slingelant biography in De groote schouburgh der Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen (1718) by Arnold Houbraken, courtesy of the Digital library for Dutch literature
^ "Portrait of the family of Francois Meerman (1630-1672) and Theodora van Hoogeveen (1630-....), 1668 gedateerd". rkd.nl.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Pieter Cornelisz. van Slingelandt in the RKD