Which artist:
1. Was deaf and mute?
Hendrick Avercamp
Hendrick Avercamp (1585-1634), one of the first Dutch landscape painters of the 17th century, was deaf and mute and known as de Stomme van Kampen (“the mute of Kampen”). He is especially noted for his winter landscapes of his homeland. His landscapes are characterized by high horizons, bright clear colors, and tree branches darkly drawn against the snow or the sky. His paintings are lively and descriptive, with evidence of solid drawing skills that made him an ideal recorder of his contemporary life.
His drawings were very popular in his time, and he sold many of them enhanced with watercolors. His landscapes have a narrative quality, telling the tale of a crowd of people walking, skating, tobogganing, golfing, selling soup, making tea – each busy with a slightly different occupation.
Currently there is an outstanding collection of his drawings at Windsor Castle in the possession of Queen Elizabeth II.
2. Was forced to petition for bankruptcy in 1656?
Rembrandt
Rembrandt van Rijn (1606–1669) was a prolific and talented painter, etcher, and draftsman who modeled himself after the great Italian artists like Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael, and Titian. He is certainly as famous as them: his name symbolizes an entire art history movement known as the Dutch Golden Age (roughly coinciding with the 17th century). He excelled at history paintings and portraits. His most famous portrait is the Militia Company of Capt. Frans Banning Cocq and Lt Willem van Ruytenburch, also known by the nickname, Night Watch (1642), praised for the artist’s ability to turn it into a fragment of history instead of simply a group portrait.
Rembrandt ran into personal and financial troubles and at one point became unable to meet the mortgage payments on his house. Borrowing money, he unfortunately replaced one debt with another. In 1656 Rembrandt declared himself insolvent. His collection of Italian, Flemish, German, and Dutch prints and drawings, and works by Rembrandt himself, went up for auction and was sold off bit by bit.
3. Drowned himself in 1692 at the age of seventy-five?
Emanuel de Witte
Emanuel de Witte (1617-1692) was a Dutch perspective painter who excelled at architectural scenes, especially church interiors. He was especially concerned with atmosphere, sometimes painting imaginary interiors or conjured visions of different churches combined.
Records tell about his gambling habit. Emanuel de Witte committed suicide in 1691 after an argument over a rent payment. On a very cold evening he jumped from a bridge; his body was discovered in the frozen canal eleven weeks after his disappearance.
4. Was killed by the explosion of the Delft munitions factory in 1654?
Carel Fabritius
Carel Fabritius (c. 1622 -1654) was a Dutch still life painter trained in Rembrandt's studio in Amsterdam. In his brief twelve-year career, he may have produced only about twelve paintings, but his work is memorable and he is typically considered the link between Rembrandt and the Delft school. The use of light in paintings by Johannes Vermeer especially influenced Fabritius’ decision to use silvery colors that define shape in a distinct departure from Rembrandt’s chiaroscuro modeling.
On October 12, 1654, the Delft gunpowder arsenal near his house exploded. At the very moment of the gunpowder explosion, Fabritius was painting in his studio. The house collapsed, tragically causing the artist's death as well as that of his student.
Source:
Bailey, Colin J. The Art Quiz Book: 2000+ Questions on Painters and Paintings. Station Press: Scotland, 1995.
