Barend Jansz. Slordt (ca. 1625-na 1690), 'galey-schilder' uit Schermerhorn

Abstract

After the discovery of archival material, now for the first time a reconstruction of the life of Barend Jansz. Slordt (ca.1625-after 1690) is possible. Slordt was born in Medemblik in circa 1625, where he worked as an iron-seller. Slordt converted solely to painting after moving to Hoorn with his wife in 1661, where he went into business with the female art dealer Luijtgen Willemdr. Alter his wife died and Slordt ran into bankruptcy, he married for the second time in 1675 and moved to the hometown of his new wife, Schermerhorn. Although most of the local archives are lost due to a fire in 1699 that destroyed the town, the presence of the painter is recorded till 1690. As many as 69 of his paintings occur in the inventory of the Amsterdam art dealer Hendrick Meijeringh in 1687, but no mention of Slordt is made in the Amsterdam archives. Meijeringh possessed a large stock of relatively cheap history paintings, and it is likely that Slordt, whose paintings show signs of serial production and cost reducing methods, painted in the studio in the attic of the shop of Meijeringh. The resemblance with works by painters from Haarlem (Adrien Gael, Garrit de Wet and Adriaen Verdoel) that the art dealer kept in this studio as examples for his employees underlines this claim. It is most likely that Slordt kept living in Schermerhorn while working for periods in Amsterdam.