Aelbert Cuyp Biography | Oil Paintings

Aelbert Jacobsz Cuyp, or Cuijp, was the son of the painter Jacob Gerritsz Cuyp, scion of a well to do family. Controversy continues to rage over the extent of his work, many paintings, particularly still life, being merely signed with the initials AC.

On the other hand, those paintings signed 'A Cuyp” are generally landscapes, whose startling lighting effects are very characteristic of his work. As the signed canvases belong to his later period, it has been argued that the AC paintings are from his earliest years as a painter.

He never strayed beyond the Netherlands and his landscapes are bounded by the Maas and the Rhine rivers, The Maas At Dordrecht, but what the flatness of the scenery lacks in variety is more than compensated for by Cuyp's mastery of conveying the different seasons and even different times of day, at their best suffusing the figures of humans and animals with brilliant sunshine.

The development of Aelbert Cuyp, who was trained as a landscape painter, may be roughly sketched in three phases based on the painters who most influenced him during that time. Generally, Cuyp learned tone from the exceptionally prolific Jan van Goyen, light from Jan Both, and form from his father, Jacob Gerritsz Cuyp.

Known as the Dutch equivalent of Claude Lorrain, Cuyp went on to inherit a considerable fortune.

Art Movement: Dutch Golden Age.
Artists Influencing Aelbert Cuyp: Jacob Gerritsz Cuyp, Jan van Goyen, Jan Both.
Artist's Biography compiled by Albert L. Mansour at The World's Artist.