This fall, the Fries Museum will present an exhibition on Frisian artist Wybrand de Geest (1592-1663/1665). Wybrand de Geest is considered Friesland’s most important 17th-century portrait painter. Among others, he painted life-size portraits of Stadholder Ernst Casimir, Count of Nassau-Dietz, and his wife Sophia Hedwig, ancestors of King Willem-Alexander.
Wybrand de Geest (1592-1663/1665), Self portrait, 1629
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
Wybrand de Geest (1592-1663/1665)
Wybrand Simonsz. de Geest was born in Leeuwarden in 1592 and was one of the first Frisian young men to leave the city gates far behind to be trained as a painter elsewhere. For Wybrand, that was Utrecht, in the large, lively studio of Abraham Bloemaert. From there, the young painter traveled via Den Bosch to Paris, Aix-en-Provence, and by ship to Rome. Together with his artist friends, he took his time to practice his hand and enjoy life there. Every artist with a bit of ambition had to have seen the ancient world with their own eyes in those days.
A mocking verse about love by colleague Wouter Crabeth from 1615.
Album amicorum
During his trip abroad, Wybrand collected a unique album amicorum, a friendship book full of contributions from his friends and fellow travelers. The remaining paper edges, however, reveal that about 22 drawings are missing. Presumably, the drawings of, among others, Wybrand’s brother Gilles de Geest and of the painters Wouter Crabeth II, Pieter de Molijn, Leonaert Bramer, Cornelis van Poelenburgh, Louis Beaubrun, and Mathijs Harings were stolen from the book because they yielded money. The Fries Museum previously made an appeal to find the drawings and display them in the exhibition.
Thriving painting practice
After his trip abroad, Wybrand returned permanently to his hometown of Leeuwarden around 1620. There he built a thriving portrait practice thanks to clients from the Frisian nobility who continued to seek him out throughout their lives. Three successive Frisian Nassaus also granted him their portrait commissions. For example, he painted the life-size portraits of stadtholder Ernst Casimir of Nassau-Dietz and his wife Sophia Hedwig, the Frisian ancestors of King Willem-Alexander.