Pieter Aertsen called Lange Pier ("Tall Pete") because of his height, was a Dutch

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...

 historical painter. He was born and died 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...

, and painted there and in Antwerp, though his genre scenes were influential in Italy.

Biography

As a youth, he apprenticed with Allaert Claesz

Aertgen van Leyden

Aertgen Claesz. van Leyden , also known as Allaert or Aert van Leyden, was a 16th-Century Dutch painter, draughtsman and designer of stained glass...

. He distinguished himself by painting domestic scenes in which he reproduced articles of furniture, cooking utensils, and so on, with marvellous fidelity. Later in life, he began documenting historical scenes. Several of his best works, including altarpiece

Altarpiece

An altarpiece is a picture or relief representing a religious subject and suspended in a frame behind the altar of a church. The altarpiece is often made up of two or more separate panels created using a technique known as panel painting. It is then called a diptych, triptych or polyptych for two,...

s in various churches, were destroyed during the days surrounding the event known as the Alteratie

Alteratie

The Alteratie is the name given to the change of power in Amsterdam on May 26, 1578, when the Catholic city-government was deposed in favor of a Protestant one. The coup should be seen in the context of the greater Dutch Revolt that was breaking out in this time...

, or "Changeover", when Amsterdam formally reverted to Protestantism from Catholicism on 26 May 1578 at the start of the Eighty Year's War. During the iconoclasm

Iconoclasm

Iconoclasm is the deliberate destruction of religious icons and other symbols or monuments, usually with religious or political motives. It is a frequent component of major political or religious changes...

 several paintings that had been commissioned by Catholic churches were destroyed.

An excellent specimen of his style is a painting of the Crucifixion

Crucifixion

Crucifixion is an ancient method of painful execution in which the condemned person is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross and left to hang until dead...

, Aertsen was a member of Antwerp's equivalent of the Academy of St Luke. In the official books of the Academy he is known as "Langhe Peter, schilder" (Tall Peter, painter). His sons Pieter

Pieter Pietersz the Elder

Pieter Pietersz the Elder, also Pieter Pietersz. , , was a Dutch renaissance painter.-Biography:According to Karel van Mander , who mentioned him in his biography of his father Pieter Aertsen, he followed in his father's footsteps but took to portrait painting because large commissions were not to...

, Aert

Aert Pietersz

Aert Pietersz , was a Dutch Golden Age painter.-Biography:According to Karel van Mander, he was the second son of Pieter Aertsen, the younger brother of Pieter Pietersz the Elder, and the older brother of Dirck Pietersz...

, and Dirck became acclaimed painters, and other notable pupils trained in his workshop included Stradanus

Stradanus

Giovanni Stradano or Jan Van der Straet or van der Straat or Stradanus or Stratesis was a Flanders-born mannerist artist active mainly in 16th century Florence.-Biography:...

 and Aertsen's nephew, Joachim Beuckelaer

Joachim Beuckelaer

Joachim Beuckelaer was a Flemish painter.A native of Antwerp, he studied under his uncle, Pieter Aertsen. Many of his paintings contain scenes of kitchen and markets, with religious allusions in the background. His Four Elements series exemplifies this theme on a large scale...

.

External links

• Ibiblio.org
• Paintings
• Literature on Pieter Aertsen
• Pieter Aertsen, Rhyparographer
• Pieter Aertsen Paitings Gallery (Public Domain Paintings - www.art.onilm.com)