Biography

Philips Wouwerman was a hugely prolific painter and draughtsman, best known for his pictures featuring horses and figures in Italianate landscapes. Born in Haarlem, he trained with his father Pouwels Wouwerman and possibly with Frans Hals. Except for a brief visit to Hamburg in 1638-39, where he married the catholic Annetje Pietersdr van Broeckhof, also from Haarlem, he spent his entire career in his hometown. He joined the St Luke’s Guild (the painters’ guild) in 1640 and quickly became a very successful painter. Apart from everyday scenes with horses, Wouwerman also painted landscapes and a few religious subjects. Although he probably kept a huge stock of drawings from life, as models for his paintings, in his studio, today his drawings are rare. Wouwerman’s paintings were hugely popular in his own day and remained favourites with collectors throughout the eighteenth century. Philips’s brother Jan and his half-brother Pieter were also painters.