Hessel Miedema
Encyclopedia
Hessel Miedema is a leading Dutch
art historian and the world authority on Karel van Mander.
, but grew up in Amsterdam
, where he studied art history at the University of Amsterdam. After his studies in 1957 he became curator of the Princessehof Ceramics Museum
in Leeuwarden. In 1963 he returned to Amsterdam to write his dissertation on Karel van Mander. Though best known for his (Dutch and English) work on Van Mander, he is also an artist and linguistics
expert who has written poems and stories in his native Frisian. He wrote the poem De greate wrakseling with illustrations by his own hand in Friesian in 1964 about a sculptor who fights for innovation against the strict structures of musea. The sculptor realizes at a certain point that he has forgotten to knock his art to pieces.
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
art historian and the world authority on Karel van Mander.
Biography
He was born in SneekSneek
Sneek is a city southwest of Leeuwarden and seat of the former municipality of Sneek in the province of Friesland . As for 2011 it is part of the municipality Súdwest Fryslân...
, but grew up in Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
, where he studied art history at the University of Amsterdam. After his studies in 1957 he became curator of the Princessehof Ceramics Museum
Princessehof Ceramics Museum
Princessehof Ceramics Museum is a city museum of ceramics in Leeuwarden, the Netherlands. The museum's name comes from one of two buildings in which it is housed: a small palace built in 1693 and later occupied by Marie Louise, dowager Princess of Orange...
in Leeuwarden. In 1963 he returned to Amsterdam to write his dissertation on Karel van Mander. Though best known for his (Dutch and English) work on Van Mander, he is also an artist and linguistics
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
expert who has written poems and stories in his native Frisian. He wrote the poem De greate wrakseling with illustrations by his own hand in Friesian in 1964 about a sculptor who fights for innovation against the strict structures of musea. The sculptor realizes at a certain point that he has forgotten to knock his art to pieces.
Select bibliography
- The lives of the illustrious Netherlandish and German painters, from the first edition of the Schilder-boeckSchilder-boeckThe Schilder-Boeck is a book by the art historian Karel van Mander written in 1604. It was actually compiled from three books in total; the first was a translation from Giorgio Vasari's list of artist biographies called the Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, the...
(1603-1604), preceded by the lineage, circumstances and place of birth, life and ..., from the second edition of the Schilder-boeck (1616-1618), 1994-1997 (Massive publication in 6 volumes; Volume 1 is the facsimile version of the original; volumes 2-5 are commentary volumes, and volume 6 is the cross-reference) - Karel van Manders leven der moderne, oft dees-tijtsche doorluchtighe Italiaensche schilders en hun bron : een vergelijking tussen van Mander en Vasari, 1984
- Kunst, kunstenaar en kunstwerk bij Karel Van Mander : een analyse van zijn levensbeschrijvingen, 1981
- "Over de betrouwbaarheid van Karel van Mander Hessel Miedema (Amsterdam)", Colloquium Neerlandicum 11 (1991) http://www.dbnl.org/tekst/_han001199101_01/_han001199101_01_0022.htm
- De Archiefbescheiden van het St. Lukasgilde te Haarlem 1497-1798, 1980, ISBN 9064695849
- Denkbeeldig schoon: Lambert ten Kates opvattingen over beeldende kunst, 2007 ISBN 9059970357
- Op 'e literaire toer (in Friesian), 1973, Bolswert Koperative Utjowerij (Republished in 2010, ISBN 9089541691)