Frederik de Moucheron

Frederik de Moucheron was born in 1633 in Emden, a German port close to the Dutch border, into a family of Flemish origin that had grown rich in trade. He trained in Amsterdam with Jan Asselijn, a painter of sunlit Italian landscapes who had worked in Rome, and at about 22 he left for Paris, where he spent three years.

In 1659 he settled in Amsterdam for good and married Marieke de Jouderville, whose father Isaac had been a pupil of Rembrandt. Moucheron painted the southern-looking landscape, warm and open, and other painters often added the people and animals, Adriaen van de Velde among them.

When he died in Amsterdam in January 1686, he left eight children. His son Isaac, named after his Rembrandt-trained grandfather, became a painter too, known for the landscapes he painted as wall decorations for Amsterdam houses.