BARENDSZ., Dirck

(b. 1534 Amsterdam, d. 1592 Amsterdam)

Dutch painter and draughtsman. He probably received his first training from his father Barend Dircksz., nicknamed ‘Doove’ (Deaf) Barend. In 1555 he went to Rome and Venice, where he presumably worked for a while in Titian’s studio. Other Venetian artists, including Jacopo Bassano, also had an important influence on him. He returned to Amsterdam shortly before or during 1562, the year in which he married Agnies Florisdr., by whom he fathered at least eight children. He remained there for the rest of his life.

He moved in cultivated circles and was an accomplished musician, mathematician and linguist. He introduced the Venetian style of painting to the Netherlands: strong colours and rapid, sketchy brushwork. Of his few surviving works there are two group portraits of members of Amsterdam’s civic guard: Fourteen Guardsmen of Squad G (1562; Amsterdam, Historisch Museum) and the Perch Eaters (1566; Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum). Their lively compositions provide a welcome change from the stiff civic guard groups typically produced around that time in Amsterdam. The only dated portrait to survive, Dirck Jan Hendricksz. (Amsterdam, Occo Hofje), was painted in 1567.

The Last Judgment

This depiction of the subject derives from Tintoretto’s Last Judgment (Madonna dell’Orto, Venice) in both its general composition and individual motifs. Like several other Netherlandish painters, Dirck Barendsz. may have worked in Tintoretto’s studio for a while. There, or in its owner’s house, he would also have seen Tintoretto’s Susanna and the Elders (Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna), of which he makes use for the female sinner shown being resurrected in the lower part of his composition.

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The Last Supper

This oil sketch, showing the influence of Tintoretto and of the late Titian, was once part of a series of 40 depicting the story of Christ’s Passion. Several of the sketches had been translated into prints by Jan Sadeler I.

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