Artist Abraham Blomaert (Born 1566) was born in Gorinchem. He was born to Cornelis Bloemaert I, who was an architect by profession. The family moved to Utrecht in 1575, where Bloemaert was first a pupil of Gerrit Splinter and then of Joes de Beer. He spent three years in Paris from the time he was about 15 years old. While in Paris, he studied under Jehan Bassot for six weeks and also under Maistre Herry. Bloemaert received further training from Hieronymus Franken, his fellow countryman, when he was in the school of Fontainebleau. He returned to Utrecht in 1583, just before the French wars, which destroyed much of the work at chateau of Fontainebleau. Many of Bloemaert’s work were commissioned by Utrecht’s Catholic Churches. He painted flower pieces, landscapes, animal pictures, still life, and allegorical pictures. Bloemaert also taught art, and his sons Adriaan, Cornelis, Fredrick and Handrick were among his many pupils; all his sons just like himself, achieved considerable reputation as engravers and painters.
Bloemaert is represented in the following collections: National Gallery of Canada, Museum of Grenoble, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Mauritius Royal Picture Gallery, J. Paul Getty Museum, Indianapolis Museum of art, Hermitage Museum, Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, Detroit Institute of Arts, Princeton University Art Museum, Kunsthalie zu Kiel and many others. Bloemaert’s art pieces are very popular with many leading collectors because of their appeal to the viewers.
