The Early Years in Dordrecht
Samuel van Hoogstraten was born in Dordrecht but grew up in The Hague. He learned the basics of the art of painting from his father, Dirck (1596-1640), a silversmith and painter whose work from this period testifies to Rembrandt’s influence [1].1 In 1640, Dirck’s father-in-law, Dordrecht silversmith Isaack de Coninck (d. 1640), died, whereupon Dirck moved to Dordrecht with his wife and seven young children. They moved into Isaack’s house, which came with a shop and workshop. Several months later, Dirck died and his children were placed under the guardianship of Mennonite relatives and the Mennonite community. Samuel van Hoogstraten was only thirteen years old.
Young Samuel attended the Latin school in Dordrecht, probably from 1640 to 1643. There, he was taught subjects such as Latin and rhetoric (eloquence). He was part of a group around teacher Pieter van Godewijck (1593-1669), who was ‘animated with a burning thirst for arts and sciences’. During the ‘hours of repose’, his home was visited by scholars, poets and painters.2 In 1641, Van Godewijck’s moralistic comedy Witte-broots kinderen of bedorve jongelingen (Silver Spoon Children or Spoiled Youngsters) was published, which was no doubt performed by his own pupils. Through him, Van Hoogstraten not only came into contact with theatre, but most likely also with governor and medic Johan van Beverwijck (1594-1647). Van Beverwijck was a member of the board of the Latin school and, like Van Godewijck, is regarded as belonging to the first generation of the Dordrecht school of poetry.3 In 1642, Van Hoogstraten made two etchings for Van Beverwijck’s treatise on scurvy. Two years later, this booklet was included in its entirety in the second volume of Van Beverwijck’s Schat der ongesontheyt (Treasury of Unhealthiness).4 This volume contains eleven more etchings, all of which were most likely made after existing pictures, which Van Hoogstraten must have produced in 1642. One of these is a depiction of the camera obscura that Van Beverwijck had set up in his tower room [2].5 Indeed, it was through this ‘wise and bright man’ that Van Hoogstraten came into contact with illusionism and perspective, well before he continued his education with Rembrandt (1606-1669).6
1
Dirck van Hoogstraten
Self-portrait of Dirk van Hoogstraten (1595/1596-1640), c. 1634-1640
Private collection
2
attributed to Samuel van Hoogstraten
Camera Obscura of Johan van Beverwijck, c. 1642-1644
Utrecht, Universiteit Utrecht, inv./cat.nr. WRT 155-217
Notes
1 Roscam Abbing/Schillemans 2025, chapters 2 and 7.
2 P. van Godewijck, Wittebroods-kinderen of bedorve jongelingen. Eene bijdrage tot de geschiedenis van het schoolwezen in ons vaderland in de XVIIe eeuw, Utrecht 1867., p. XI.
3 Thissen 1994, chapter 4.
4
J. van Beverwijck, Van den blauw-schuyt, de eygene ende gemeene sieckte van Hollandt, Zeelandt, Vrieslandt, &c. Met de eygene, ende gemeene kruyden aldaer wassende te genesen, Dordrecht 1642.
J. van Beverwijck, Schat der ongesontheyt, ofte geneeskonste van de sieckten. Het tweede deel, Dordrecht 1644.
5 See the chapter Samuel van Hoogstraten and Printmaking in this RKD study.
6 Roscam Abbing/Schillemans 2025, chapter 4.