Aert Schouman or Aart Schouman (4 March 1710 Dordrecht

Dordrecht

Dordrecht , colloquially Dordt, historically in English named Dort, is a city and municipality in the western Netherlands, located in the province of South Holland. It is the fourth largest city of the province, having a population of 118,601 in 2009...

 - 7 May 1792 Den Haag), was a prolific and versatile Dutch painter, glass engraver, printmaker, collector and dealer, who produced still lifes, biblical and mythological themes, natural history studies, genre, historical works, portraits, sketches, etchings and mezzotints. He designed tapestries, painted wall-hangings and decorated objects such as fans, snuffboxes and even the glass windows of a magic lantern

Magic lantern

The magic lantern or Laterna Magica is an early type of image projector developed in the 17th century.-Operation:The magic lantern has a concave mirror in front of a light source that gathers light and projects it through a slide with an image scanned onto it. The light rays cross an aperture , and...

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When 15 years old he served as apprentice to the Dordrecht artist Adriaen van der Burg (1693-1733). Schouman was unusual among painters in that he kept a detailed diary of his professional life from 16 October 1733 to 16 November 1753. He took on his first art pupil in 1733 and continued teaching for the rest of his life. In 1736 he founded the Brotherhood of St. Luke, a fraternity of amateur art lovers from Dordrecht and environs.

Schouman was a leading artist in Zeeland

Zeeland

Zeeland , also called Zealand in English, is the westernmost province of the Netherlands. The province, located in the south-west of the country, consists of a number of islands and a strip bordering Belgium. Its capital is Middelburg. With a population of about 380,000, its area is about...

 between 1735 and 1785. During that period he lived and worked in Dordrecht, The Hague and Middelburg

Middelburg

Middelburg is a municipality and a city in the south-western Netherlands and the capital of the province of Zeeland. It is situated in the Midden-Zeeland region. It has a population of about 48,000.- History of Middelburg :...

 and taught pupils in Dordrecht and The Hague. He travelled to England twice and assembled an important collection of paintings.

His painting of Cornelis van Lill, the art collector and Maecenas, gives an insight into the relationship between artist and patron.