Biography

He was born in Bruges as the son of Gisbrecht Janssens, who probably taught him to paint. When he moved to Rotterdam in 1653, he changed his name to Elinga. He moved to Amsterdam in 1657, where he probably died. He is last registered alive in 1657, when he paid a poll tax in Amsterdam. His widow is registered there in a notarized document as a widow in 1682. Elinga was a follower of Pieter de Hooch

Pieter de Hooch

Pieter de Hooch was a genre painter during the Dutch Golden Age. He was a contemporary of Dutch Master Jan Vermeer, with whom his work shared themes and style.-Biography:...

 and Willem Kalf

Willem Kalf

- Life and work :Willem Kalf was born in Rotterdam, in 1619. He was previously thought to have been born in 1622, but H. E. van Gelder’s important archival research has established the painter’s correct place and date of birth. Kalf was born into a prosperous patrician family in Rotterdam, where...

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Legacy

He is best known today for his perspective box, one of only 6 known to be still intact. It is on show at the Bredius Museum in The Hague

The Hague

The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...

. Perspective boxes were experiments with light, architectural elements, and the camera obscura

Camera obscura

The camera obscura is an optical device that projects an image of its surroundings on a screen. It is used in drawing and for entertainment, and was one of the inventions that led to photography. The device consists of a box or room with a hole in one side...

. Samuel van Hoogstraten also made one, which is on show at the National Gallery

National gallery

The National Gallery is an art gallery on Trafalgar Square, London, United Kingdom.National Gallery may also refer to:*Armenia: National Gallery of Armenia, Yerevan*Australia:**National Gallery of Australia, Canberra...

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Given the size and contorted perspective, the small painting View of Delft by Carel Fabritius

Carel Fabritius

Carel Fabritius was a Dutch painter and one of Rembrandt's most gifted pupils.-Biography:Fabritius was born in Beemster, the ten-year old polder, as the son of a schoolteacher. Initially he worked as a carpenter . In the early 1640s he studied at Rembrandt's studio in Amsterdam, along with his...

has been considered to have originally been part of a perspective box.