Johannes Spilberg

Johannes Spilberg (30 April 1619 – 10 August 1690) was a German Baroque painter, active in Amsterdam during the period known as the Dutch Golden Age.

Life

Spilberg was born and died in Düsseldorf.^[1] He learned to paint from his father, who painted in oils and on glass, who then sent him to Antwerp, to learn under Rubens.^[2] While underway, he heard that Rubens had died, so he settled in Amsterdam and became apprentice to Govert Flink, a student of Rembrandt, for seven years.^[2] He won a commission for a schutterstuk from the Burgomasters of Amsterdam that still hangs in Amsterdam. In Amsterdam he married Marrite Gerrits in 1649.^[1]

He worked for years as family portrait painter for Johann Wilhelm, Elector Palatine. His uncle Gabriel was court painter for Charles II of Spain.^[2]

Though he worked in Düsseldorf, he kept his family in Amsterdam, since he was traveling with his patron most of the time anyway.^[2] He taught his daughter Adriana to paint, and her talents became so well known, that she was offered a position in Düsseldorf as well.^[2] Her father wanted her to marry a painter, however, and felt her chances were higher of finding a good one in Amsterdam.^[2] Eventually, she did marry the painter Willem Breekveld in 1684, but he died in 1687.^[2] After Spilberg's death, she married his successor in Düsseldorf, Eglon van der Neer in December 1697.^[2]

He is known for portraits, landscapes, and historical allegories in the Rembrandt school.^[1]

Gallery

• 
  1644 religious painting of Jael with her hammer and nail, style of Flinck, collection Gemäldegalerie Berlin
• 
  The Feast of Esther by Johannes Spilberg the Younger
• 
  Family of Sophia Eleonore of Saxony, 1667.