Editing Govert Flinck (section)

==Life==
Born at [[Kleve]], capital of the [[Duchy of Cleves]], which was occupied at the time by the United Provinces, he was apprenticed by his father to a silk [[Mercery|mercer]], but having secretly acquired a passion for etching and drawing, was sent to [[Leeuwarden]], where he boarded in the house of [[Lambert Jacobsz]]oon, a [[Mennonite]], better known as an itinerant preacher than as a painter.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=519}}

Here Flinck was joined by [[Jacob Adriaensz Backer|Jacob Backer]], and the companionship of a youth determined like himself to be an artist only confirmed his passion for painting. Amongst the neighbours of Jacobszon at Leeuwarden were the sons and relations of [[Rombertus van Uylenburgh]], whose daughter [[Saskia van Uylenburg|Saskia]] married [[Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn|Rembrandt]] in 1634. Other members of the same family lived at [[Amsterdam]], cultivating the arts either professionally or as amateurs. The pupils of Lambert probably gained some knowledge of Rembrandt by intercourse with the Ulenburgs. Certainly [[Joachim von Sandrart]], who visited Holland in 1637, found Flinck acknowledged as one of Rembrandt's best pupils, and living habitually in the house of the dealer [[Hendrick van Uylenburgh]] at Amsterdam.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=519}}

For many years Flinck laboured on the lines of Rembrandt, following that master's style in all the works which he executed between 1636 and 1648. It was after his time with Rembrandt that he took up the material of [[blue paper]] for drawings with his colleagues Jacob Backer and Jacob van Loo.<ref>{{Cite book |last=McCarthy |first=Alexa |title=Govert Flinck's Figure Studies on Blue Paper: The Role of Materials in Stylistic Development |year=2021 |isbn=978-3110634495 |editor-last=Brahms |editor-first=Iris |edition=Gezeichnete Evidentia: Zeichnungen auf kolorierten Papieren in Süd und Nord von 1400 bis 1700 |location=Berlin / Boston |pages=197-216}}</ref> With aspirations as a [[History painting|history painter]], however, he looked to the swelling forms and grand action of [[Peter Paul Rubens]], which led to many commissions for official and diplomatic painting. Flinck's relations with Cleves became in time very important. He was introduced to the court of the [[prince-elector|Great Elector]], [[Friedrich Wilhelm I of Brandenburg]], who possessed the Duchy and who married in 1646 [[Louise Henriette of Orange-Nassau|Louisa of Orange]]. He obtained the patronage of [[John Maurice of Nassau]], who was made stadtholder of Cleves in 1649.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=519}}

In 1652 a citizen of Amsterdam, Flinck married in 1656 an heiress, Sophie van der Houven, daughter of a director of the [[Dutch East India Company]]. Flinck was already well known in the patrician circles over which the brothers [[Cornelis de Graeff|Cornelis]] and [[Andries de Graeff]]<ref>[http://www.triomfdervrede.nl/images/andries_de_graeff_20100113.pdf Pieter C. Vis: Andries de Graeff (1611–1678) ’t Gezagh is heerelyk: doch vol bekommeringen]</ref> and the alderman [[Jan Six]] presided; he was on terms of intimacy with the poet [[Joost van den Vondel]] and the treasurer Johannes Uitenbogaard. In his house, adorned with casts after the Antique, costumes, and a noble collection of prints, he often received the [[stadtholder]] John Maurice, whose portrait is still preserved in the work of the learned [[Caspar Barlaeus]]. Flinck died in Amsterdam on 2 February 1660.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|pp=519–520}}