Willem Pietersz. Buytewech

ca. 1591/92–1624, Rotterdam

Little is known about Willem Buytewech’s training as a draughtsman and etcher. He was admitted to the Guild of St. Luke in Haarlem in 1612 and returned to Rotterdam in 1617. His small, rare and extremely spirited printed oeuvre draws its inspiration from a wide variety of sources. Buytewech may have been trained as an etcher by Simon Frisius and was in close contact with fellow artists from Haarlem, such as Esaias and Jan van de Velde II, as well as Cornelis Kittensteyn. It can therefore be assumed that almost all the etchings that have survived were produced when Buytewech was active in Haarlem between 1612 and 1617.