Italianate Landscape with a Shepherd and his Flock by the Water

Albert Meyering (Amsterdam 1645 - Amsterdam 1714)

Albert Meyering (Meyeringh) was baptized on 24 September 1645 in Amsterdam’s Oude Lutherse Kerk (Old Lutheran Church).¹ His parents were the painter Frederik Meyeringh (1608-1669) and Lysbeth Claesz. (?-1652) from Antwerp. His brother Hendrick Meyering (1641-1687) worked as painter and art dealer.

Albert was trained by his father. On 2 January 1672, he was still in Amsterdam, but soon afterwards he must have left the city, like many artists who escaped the aftermath of that disaster year (‘rampjaar’). Later the same year he was in Paris, and by 1673 he may have joined his friend Johannes Glauber (1656-c. 1726) in Lyon.² According to Houbraken, they travelled together in Italy,³ where Glauber is documented in Rome (1675-76), Padua (1676) and Venice (1677-78). From the evidence of a drawing by Meyering in the Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo (inv. no. 84 kl 2),⁴ he must also have travelled as far south as Naples. Further travels are documented by inscribed drawings recording sites in Trieste and Carinthia (e.g. inv. no. RP-T-00-199), Cleve,⁵ Brussels⁶ and Antwerp.⁷ A stay in Hamburg – where Glauber is documented from 1679 to 1684 – although not mentioned by Houbraken, is certain, based on other inscribed topographical drawings by Meyering, including inv. no. RP-T-1881-A-111 and two drawings in the Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg (inv. nos. 22149 and 22150).⁸ He may also have accompanied Glauber to Copenhagen, where Glauber spent six months during this period in the service of the Danish Count Ulrik Frederik Gyldenløve (1638-1704).

Meyering is recorded back in Amsterdam only on 20 June 1687, when he was present at the execution of his deceased brother’s will. He probably returned to the Netherlands earlier, however, for he apparently joined Glauber in producing paintings (c. 1685-87) for the palace of Soestdijk, near Hilversum. On 7 August 1688, residing in Amsterdam on the Kloveniers Burgwal, Meyering married Maria Schuurmans (c. 1645-1720), widow of a certain Niclaas Koninck.⁹ Some two weeks later, on 18 August, he became a citizen of Amsterdam.

Meyering belonged to the third generation of Dutch Italianate artists. As a painter, he produced classical landscapes in the manner of Gaspar Dughet (1615-1675), and as a draughtsman he is known for his topographical views. The strongest influence on his work, however, was that of his friend and travelling companion Glauber. Few of Meyering’s works are dated, mostly paintings from the 1680s, such as two examples that appeared on the Cologne art market in 1995¹⁰ and 1997,¹¹ which are dated 1682 and 1684, respectively. His graphic oeuvre, reflecting the influence of Glauber, consists of twenty-six etchings, some after his own paintings. Meyering had two pupils: Jacob Appel I (1680-1751) and the Hamburg-born painter Jacob Stockmann (c. 1670-1743).

At the time of his burial in the Oude Lutherse Kerk, Amsterdam, on 2 July 1714, he was living on the Utrechtse Straat between the Keizergracht and Kerkstraat.¹² His wife, Maria Schuurmans, was buried in the same church on 22 May 1720.¹³

Annemarie Stefes, 2018

References
A. Houbraken, De groote schouburgh der Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen, 3 vols., Amsterdam 1718-21, III (1721), p. 210; J.B. Descamps, La vie des peintres flamands, allemands et hollandois, 4 vols., Paris 1753-64, III (1760), pp. 179-80; J. Immerzeel, De levens en werken der Hollandsche en Vlaamsche kunstschilders, 3 vols., Amsterdam 1842-43, II (1843), p. 224; [O.C. Gaedechens (ed.)], Hamburgisches Künstler-Lexikon: Die bildenden Künstler, Hamburg 1854, p. 167; P. Scheltema, Aemstel’s oudheid of gedenkwaardigheden van Amsterdam, 7 vols., Amsterdam 1855-85, IV (1861), p. 67; A.D. de Vries, ‘Biografische aantekeningen betreffende voornamelijk Amsterdamsche schilders, plaatsnijders, enz. en hunne verwanten (II)’, Oud Holland 3 (1885), p. 231; A. Bredius (ed.), Künstler-Inventare: Urkunden zur Geschichte der holländischen Kunst des XVIten, XVIIten und XVIIIten Jahrhunderts, 8 vols., The Hague 1915-22, I (1915), pp. 334, 343-47; VII (1922), p. 151; A. von Wurzbach, Niederländisches Künstlerlexikon, 3 vols., Vienna/Leipzig 1906-11, II (1910), p. 158; U. Thieme and F. Becker, Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler: Von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart, 37 vols., Leipzig 1907-50, XXIV (1930), p. 499 (entry by M.D. H[enkel?]); H. Gerson, Ausbreitung und Nachwirkung der holländischen Malerei des 17. Jahrhunderts, Amsterdam 1942, pp. 28, 60, 167, 216, 221, 301; A. Zwollo, Hollandse en Vlaamse veduteschilders te Rome, 1675-1725, Assen 1973, pp. 19-27; C. Kämmerer, Die klassisch-heroische Landschaft in der niederländischen Landschaftsmalerei, 1675-1750, Berlin 1975 (PhD diss., Freie Universität Berlin), pp. 41, 45, 46, 52, 101-7; W.L. Strauss (ed.), The Illustrated Bartsch, New York and elsewhere 1978-, VII (1978), pp. 169-94, nos. 1-26; S. Alsteens and H. Buijs, Paysages de France dessinés par Lambert Doomer et les artistes hollandais et flamands des XVIe et XVIIe siècles, Paris 2008, pp. 208, 212 (n. 110); P. Groenendijk, Beknopt biografisch lexicon van Zuid- en Noord-Nederlandse schilders, graveurs, glasschilders, tapijtwevers et cetera van ca. 1350 tot ca. 1720, Utrecht 2008, p. 541; A. Beyer et al. (eds.), Allgemeines Künstlerlexikon: Die bildenden Künstler aller Zeiten und Völker, Munich 1992-, VXXXIX (2016), p. 290 (entry by I.M. Veldman); http://www.vondel.humanities.uva.nl/ecartico/persons/5235