Paulus Potter

Dutch, 1625 - 1654

Paulus Potter came from a family of artists. His father, Pieter Simonsz Potter (c. 1600–1652), was a practicing artist, and his mother, Aaltje Paulusdr Bartsius, was the sister of the painter Willem Bartsius (born c. 1612). Paulus was baptized in Enkhuizen, on November 20, 1625. In 1631 the family moved to Amsterdam, where, according to Houbraken, Potter studied painting under his father. Other writers, however, have argued that Potter studied with the Amsterdam painter Claes Moeyaert (c. 1590/1591–1655), whose style was similar to that of Pieter Potter. Since a "P. Potter" was registered in 1642 as a student of the Haarlem artist Jacob de Wet (1610–c. 1675), it seems probable that Potter would also have been familiar with artistic currents in that city during the early 1640s.

By 1646 Potter was living in Delft, where he joined the painters’ guild on August 6 of that year. In 1647 the family seems to have moved to The Hague, for in that year his father registered with the guild in that city and his sister was baptized there. Potter himself is first mentioned in guild records there in 1649. On July 3, 1650, he married Adriana Balcken Eynde, the daughter of the city architect. From 1649 to 1652 Potter rented a house on the Dunne Bierkade owned by the landscape painter Goyen, Jan van.

It may have been through his father-in-law, who worked on royal building projects, that Potter came to receive commissions from Amalia van Solms, widow of Frederik Hendrik, Prince of Orange. Potter executed at least one picture for her, now in the Hermitage, Saint Petersburg, but apparently he did not fulfill other obligations: in 1651 he was sued by the royal court for failure to deliver paintings.

By May 1, 1652, Potter had returned to Amsterdam, according to Houbraken at the urging of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp. In the following year he painted the impressive life-sized equestrian portrait of Nicolaes Tulp’s son, Dirck Tulp (Six Collection, Amsterdam). Potter died from tuberculosis shortly thereafter, at the young age of twenty-eight. He was buried in the Nieuwezijdskapel on January 17, 1654. Despite his short life, Potter produced a body of original and influential works. From very early in his career, he accorded animals an extremely important position in his compositions and was one of the first artists to depict them as subjects in their own right. He also produced some two dozen etchings of animal subjects.

Although he had no documented pupils, Potter may have influenced Dujardin, Karel, for landscapes the latter produced around the time of Potter’s death are quite similar in style.

Explore Selected Works

See all 11 works of art
Paulus Potter, A Cow Standing and Another Lying Down, 1650, etching, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund, 1982.15.2

A Cow Standing and Another Lying Down

Paulus Potter · 1650 · etching ·  Accession ID  1982.15.2

Paulus Potter, Two Cows Seen from Behind, 1650, etching, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund, 1982.15.8

Two Cows Seen from Behind

Paulus Potter · 1650 · etching ·  Accession ID  1982.15.8

Paulus Potter, Standing Cow (Cow with a Crumpled Horn), 1650, etching, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund, 1982.15.5

Standing Cow (Cow with a Crumpled Horn)

Paulus Potter · 1650 · etching ·  Accession ID  1982.15.5

Paulus Potter, Bull, 1650, etching, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund, 1982.15.1

Bull

Paulus Potter · 1650 · etching ·  Accession ID  1982.15.1

Paulus Potter, Two Oxen Fighting, 1650, etching, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund, 1982.15.7

Two Oxen Fighting

Paulus Potter · 1650 · etching ·  Accession ID  1982.15.7

Paulus Potter, Pissing Cow, 1650, etching, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund, 1982.15.6

Pissing Cow

Paulus Potter · 1650 · etching ·  Accession ID  1982.15.6

Paulus Potter, Cow Lying Down near a Fence, 1650, etching, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund, 1982.15.3

Cow Lying Down near a Fence

Paulus Potter · 1650 · etching ·  Accession ID  1982.15.3

Paulus Potter, Grazing Cow, 1650, etching, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund, 1982.15.4

Grazing Cow

Paulus Potter · 1650 · etching ·  Accession ID  1982.15.4

Two men hold the mouth of a horse open to work on its teeth as a third, short boy or man looks on in front of a building to our left, where a blacksmith works in this vertical painting. All the people have peach-colored skin. A dark horse with a white stripe down its nose stands in a small, shed-like enclosure covered with a peaked roof, which is attached to the brick blacksmith’s shop. A balding man with a white beard and fringe of white hair, and wearing glasses, a tattered crimson-red shirt, and dark pants, holds a long, rod-like instrument in the horse’s gaping mouth. A hat lies on the ground near his feet. The man next to him is cleanshaven and wears a tall hat, a dark jacket with red sleeves, and dark pants and boots. He stands facing the horse with his mouth and eyes wide open. The horse’s nose is caught in long-handled, vice-like tongs, presumably to make the horse show its teeth. A noticeably shorter man or boy stands behind the pair, to our right, and looks on. He wears a tall, floppy hat, and his dark clothes are worn. His face is deep in shadow under the hat but he might have a mustache and beard. A white horse stands with its rump angled toward us behind the trio. Almost lost in shadow, a wide-shouldered man works on a hot piece of metal, glowing orange, next to a fire just inside the doorway to the building. Charcoal-gray smoke pours from a chimney on the roof. One dog lies down in front of the door and another frolics nearby. A chicken and a rooster peck at the dirt ground to our right. The horizon of the tree-lined landscape comes about a quarter of the way up the composition, and cream-colored, puffy clouds float across a blue sky above. Two people stands near a cow in the deep distance, near the trees.
Paulus Potter, A Farrier's Shop, 1648, oil on panel, Widener Collection, 1942.9.52

A Farrier's Shop

Paulus Potter · 1648 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  1942.9.52

Paulus Potter, The Cowherd, 1643 (printed 1868?), etching on laid paper, Ellwanger/Mescha Collection, 2017.19.36

The Cowherd

Paulus Potter · 1643 (printed 1868?) · etching on laid paper ·  Accession ID  2017.19.36

Bibliography

1753

  • Houbraken, Arnold. De Groote Schouburgh der Nederlantsche Konstschilders en Schilderessen. 3 vols. in 1. The Hague, 1753 (Reprint: Amsterdam, 1976): 2:125-130.

1829

  • Smith, John. A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish and French Painters. 9 vols. London, 1829-1842: 5(1834):113-165; 9(1842):620-628.

1906

  • Michel, Émile. Paulus Potter. Paris, 1906.

1907

  • Hofstede de Groot, Cornelis. A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch Painters of the Seventeenth Century. 8 vols. Translated by Edward G. Hawke. London, 1907-1927: 4(1912):582-670.

1924

  • Zoege von Manteuffel, Kurt. Paulus Potter: acht farbige wiedergaben seiner werke. Seemanns Künstlermappen 70. Leipzig, 1924.

1932

  • Von Arps-Aubert, Rudolf. Die Entwicklung des reinen Tierbildes in der Kunst des Paulus Potter. Halle, 1932.

1985

  • Walsh, Amy. "Paulus Potter: His works and their meaning." Ph.D. dissertation, Columbia University, New York, 1985.

1987

  • Sutton, Peter C., et al. Masters of Seventeenth-Century Dutch Landscape Painting. Exh. cat. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Philadelphia Museum of Art. Boston, 1987: 416-422.

1991

  • MacLaren, Neil. The Dutch School, 1600-1900. Revised and expanded by Christopher Brown. 2 vols. National Gallery Catalogues. London, 1991: 1:313-314.

1994

  • Walsh, Amy L., Edwin Buijsen, and Ben P. J. Broos. Paulus Potter: Paintings, Drawings, and Etchings. Exh. cat. Royal Picture Gallery Mauritshuis, The Hague. Zwolle, 1994.

1995

  • Wheelock, Arthur K., Jr. Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1995: 197-198.