RENESSE, Constantijn van - b. 1626 Eindhoven, d. 1680 Eindhoven

Dutch painter, draftsman, and etcher (also Constantijn Daniel à Renesse). He was the son of a minister, theologian and house chaplain to the stadholder of Friesland. He was a pupil of Rembrandt.

Some 85 drawings are attached to the name of Constantijn van Renesse, in various attributional certainty. They show the artist to have been a thinking man, with broader interests and greater self-reflection than most of his colleagues. As dedicated as he was to drawing, painting and printmaking, he was too well-born to be a professional artist and to submit to the authority of a craftsman’s guild. In 1653 he became town secretary of Eindhoven, a post he held for the rest of his life.

Daniel in the Lion's Den

According to the inscription on the back of the drawing, Renesse came for his first lesson with Rembrandt sometime before 1 October 1649 and returned on that date with a drawing that he submitted to the master. Renesse’s drawing of Daniel shows resemblance to a sheet by Rembrandt from the same period.