Gerrit Pietersz.

1566 – before 1616, Amsterdam

During the 1580s, Gerrit Pietersz was a student of Cornelis van Haarlem in the city of the same name and was part of the circle around Hendrick Goltzius and Karel van Mander. In 1593 he moved to Antwerp and subsequently spent a few years in Rome before finally settling in Amsterdam around 1600. His printed oeuvre, which consists of only six etchings, assumes a unique role within Dutch mannerist printmaking. Stylistically, Pietersz's etchings are very different from the common engraving style introduced by Goltzius. His very free and spontaneous technique is much more reminiscent of etchings by Bartholomäus Spranger. Drawings by Gerrit Pietersz. that have come down to us are few and far between. Only a handful of his works from the early 1590s in an emphatically mannerist style have survived.