Frans Jansz. Post

Frans Post (1612-1680), a printmaker, painter and draughtsman, was born in Haarlem. He was the son of Jan Jansz. Post, a glass painter from Leiden, and younger brother of Pieter Post, a painter and architect.

He may have worked at his brother Pieter’s studio before 1636, when the latter recommended him to Johan Maurits van Nassau, governor general of the short-lived Dutch colony in Brazil. Frans Post accompanied Van Nassau to Brazil, where he remained for seven years. Back in Holland, he settled in Haarlem where he joined the city’s St Luke’s guild. His exotic Brazilian landscapes became famous and sold well.

Some of the landscapes that Post had painted in Brazil were presented to the French king Louis XIV. By the time these were ready to be sent to Paris in 1679, and Post was asked to bring them, he had already become an alcoholic, and was no longer able to travel or work.