Joanna Koerten
Encyclopedia
Joanna Koerten, (born 17 November 1650, Amsterdam - died 28 December 1715, Amsterdam) was as a Dutch
artist who excelled in painting, drawing, embroidery, glass etching, and wax modeling. She achieved fame as a silhouette
cutter, the art of creating outline images from pieces of cut paper mounted on a contrasting background. She produced landscapes, seascapes, flowers, portraits, and religious scenes in this medium . Her clients included Peter the Great of Russia , Frederick Elector of Brandenburg, Johan de Witt
and William III of England
.
cloth merchant, and his wife Ytje Cardinaels (d. before October 25, 1691). Her father died when she was one year old. Her mother remarried Rosijn Zacharias in 1659, also a cloth merchant. Joanna only married in 1691 after her mother and stepfather had died, when she was 41 years old. Her husband was Adrian Block, who, just like her father and stepfather, was a cloth merchant. He was of Mennonite
background. They had no children.
From a young age she sat apart from other children and showed an interest in depicting what she saw around her, things both animate and inanimate.
She gained fame as an artist working out of her husband's shop at No. 137 Nieuwendijk Amsterdam, which served as a gallery of her work. Peter the Great honored her with a visit in 1697 in the company of Mayor Witsen.
According to Houbraken, she could carve scenes on glass with a diamond, embroider and weave silk creations, pouring wax creations, lace-making and watercolor painting.
According to the RKD, she was known as a knipkunstenaar or papercut
artist and draughts(wo)man
.
Joanna Koerten died on 28 December 1715 aged 65, and is buried in the Oudezijds Chapel, Amsterdam .
After her death her gallery continued as a place of interest to artists and a visitors book kept by her surviving husband shows the names of many notable artist and poet visitors, both during her lifetime and beyond. Among them are artists Gerard de Lairesse
, Melchior Hondecoeter and Nicholas Verkolje; calligraphers Jacob Gadelle, and Mary Strick; and poets David van Hoogstraten, John Brandt, Gesine Brit and Katharina Lescailje.
For a description of her oeuvre see: Catalogus van een overheerlijk konstkabinet papiere snykonst, door wylen Mejuffrouw Koerten, huisvrouw van wylen Adriaan Blok, met de schaar in papier gesneden (Amsterdam ca.1750).
Examples of her work can be seen in the Stedelijk Museum De Lakenhal
(Leiden), in the Koninklijke Bibliotheek
(The Hague), in Kasteel-Museum Sypesteyn (Loosdrecht) and in Westfries Museum
(Hoorn).
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...
artist who excelled in painting, drawing, embroidery, glass etching, and wax modeling. She achieved fame as a silhouette
Silhouette
A silhouette is the image of a person, an object or scene consisting of the outline and a basically featureless interior, with the silhouetted object usually being black. Although the art form has been popular since the mid-18th century, the term “silhouette” was seldom used until the early decades...
cutter, the art of creating outline images from pieces of cut paper mounted on a contrasting background. She produced landscapes, seascapes, flowers, portraits, and religious scenes in this medium . Her clients included Peter the Great of Russia , Frederick Elector of Brandenburg, Johan de Witt
Johan de Witt
Johan de Witt, heer van Zuid- en Noord-Linschoten, Snelrewaard, Hekendorp and IJsselveere was a key figure in Dutch politics in the mid 17th century, when its flourishing sea trade in a period of globalization made the United Provinces a leading European power during the Dutch Golden Age...
and William III of England
William III of England
William III & II was a sovereign Prince of Orange of the House of Orange-Nassau by birth. From 1672 he governed as Stadtholder William III of Orange over Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel of the Dutch Republic. From 1689 he reigned as William III over England and Ireland...
.
Biography
She was the daughter of Jan Koerten (1622–1651), a BaptistBaptist
Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...
cloth merchant, and his wife Ytje Cardinaels (d. before October 25, 1691). Her father died when she was one year old. Her mother remarried Rosijn Zacharias in 1659, also a cloth merchant. Joanna only married in 1691 after her mother and stepfather had died, when she was 41 years old. Her husband was Adrian Block, who, just like her father and stepfather, was a cloth merchant. He was of Mennonite
Mennonite
The Mennonites are a group of Christian Anabaptist denominations named after the Frisian Menno Simons , who, through his writings, articulated and thereby formalized the teachings of earlier Swiss founders...
background. They had no children.
From a young age she sat apart from other children and showed an interest in depicting what she saw around her, things both animate and inanimate.
She gained fame as an artist working out of her husband's shop at No. 137 Nieuwendijk Amsterdam, which served as a gallery of her work. Peter the Great honored her with a visit in 1697 in the company of Mayor Witsen.
According to Houbraken, she could carve scenes on glass with a diamond, embroider and weave silk creations, pouring wax creations, lace-making and watercolor painting.
According to the RKD, she was known as a knipkunstenaar or papercut
Papercutting
Papercutting is the art of cutting paper designs. The art has evolved uniquely all over the world to adopt to different cultural styles.-History:...
artist and draughts(wo)man
Draughtsman
A draughtsman or draftsman , is a person skilled in drawing, either:*drawing for artistic purposes, or*technical drawing for practical purposes such as architecture or engineering...
.
Joanna Koerten died on 28 December 1715 aged 65, and is buried in the Oudezijds Chapel, Amsterdam .
After her death her gallery continued as a place of interest to artists and a visitors book kept by her surviving husband shows the names of many notable artist and poet visitors, both during her lifetime and beyond. Among them are artists Gerard de Lairesse
Gerard de Lairesse
Gerard or Gérard de Lairesse was a Dutch Golden Age painter and art theorist.Lairesse was born in Liège. His broad range of talent included music, poetry, and the theatre. He was perhaps the most celebrated Dutch painter in the period following the death of Rembrandt...
, Melchior Hondecoeter and Nicholas Verkolje; calligraphers Jacob Gadelle, and Mary Strick; and poets David van Hoogstraten, John Brandt, Gesine Brit and Katharina Lescailje.
Works
Only fifteen of her works survive. The existence of others can be inferred from descriptions in old auction lists.For a description of her oeuvre see: Catalogus van een overheerlijk konstkabinet papiere snykonst, door wylen Mejuffrouw Koerten, huisvrouw van wylen Adriaan Blok, met de schaar in papier gesneden (Amsterdam ca.1750).
Examples of her work can be seen in the Stedelijk Museum De Lakenhal
Stedelijk Museum De Lakenhal
Stedelijk Museum De Lakenhal is a city museum of fine arts in Leiden, the Netherlands. The museum hosts a collection of altarpieces and religious artifacts from before the Protestant Revolution that were formally ceded to the state in 1572, but it is mainly of interest for its collection of...
(Leiden), in the Koninklijke Bibliotheek
Koninklijke Bibliotheek
Koninklijke Bibliotheek can stand for:* Royal Library of Belgium, the national library in Brussels, in Belgium.* National Library of the Netherlands in The Hague, in the Netherlands....
(The Hague), in Kasteel-Museum Sypesteyn (Loosdrecht) and in Westfries Museum
Westfries Museum
The Westfries Museum is a museum of regional history established in the Dutch city of Hoorn.It was opened on 10 January 1880 and has been established in a monumental building dating to 1632. This building originally belonged to the Gecommitteerde Raden van West-Friesland en het Noorderkwartier, as...
(Hoorn).