Gerard de Lairesse

1641 Liège - 1711 Amsterdam

The painter and etcher, Gerard de Lairesse, a native of Liège who was subsequently active in Amsterdam, is considered the principal representative of Dutch academic Baroque classicism in the late 17th century. Born into an educated family of artists, de Lairesse began carrying out painting commissions at a very early age and went on to produce an extensive oeuvre of religious, mythological and allegorical murals and panel paintings. Poor health later obliged him to devote his attention to essays on art theory, which his son Abraham published in two books. As a painter-etcher de Lairesse was among the most prolific artists at the end of the 17th century.