Painter For Royalty
In Brussels Van der Neer established a good relationship with the governor of the Spanish Netherlands, the Marquess of Castanaga. In 1687 Van der Neer was appointed court painter to the Spanish King Charles II of Spain. In 1689, when Carlos' first wife died, Van der Neer portrayed one of the new wedding candidates, Maria Anna of Neuburg. In 1695, Johann Wilhelm, Elector Palatine bought a painting by Van der Neer in Rotterdam, when traveling through the Netherlands. This painting must have pleased him, because shortly thereafter the Elector Palatine contacted Van der Neer directly and gave him commissions. In that same year Brussels was bombarded by French troops and Van der Neer started to look for another place to begin a new life. The Elector Palatine had been looking for a replacement ever since his last court painter Johannes Spilberg had died in 1690. Van der Neer's second wife had died in 1692, and he met Spilberg's daughter, herself a qualified painter, Adriana Spilberg. They married in 1697 and in 1698 Johann Wilhelm offered Van der Neer the position at his court as head painter. Van der Neer thus settled in Düsseldorf, and would remain here for these last years of his life.
Read more about this topic: Eglon Van Der Neer, Life
Famous quotes containing the words painter and/or royalty:
“I foresee the time when the painter will paint that scene, no longer going to Rome for a subject; the poet will sing it; the historian record it; and, with the Landing of the Pilgrims and the Declaration of Independence, it will be the ornament of some future national gallery, when at least the present form of slavery shall be no more here. We shall then be at liberty to weep for Captain Brown. Then, and not till then, we will take our revenge.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Powerful, yes, that is the word that I constantly rolled on my tongue; I dreamed of absolute power, the kind that forces to kneel, that forces the enemy to capitulate, finally converting him, and the more the enemy is blind, cruel, sure of himself, buried in his conviction, the more his admission proclaims the royalty of he who has brought on his defeat.”
—Albert Camus (1913–1960)