Vosmaer, Carel

Date born:  1826

Place born:  's-Gravenhage, The Netherlands

Date died:  1888

Place died:  Territet, (near Montreux) Switzerland

Dutch lawyer and author; wrote biographies of artists.  Vosmaer graduated from law school in Leiden in 1850 and began a law practice in 1853.  Throughout his professional career, he wrote novels, cultural essays and biographies of artists.  His first foray into art writing came in 1856 when he published a small aesthetics, Een studie over het schoone in de kunst.  In 1858 he founded and edited the periodical De tijdstroom ("Time's Steam").  Vosmaer left that periodical in 1860 to found a second, culturally-based journal, De Nederlandsche spectator, which he also edited until 1888. In 1863 he published the first of two popular books on Rembrandt (both in French), Rembrandt Harmens van Rijn: ses précurseurs et ses années d'apprentissage.  In 1868 his two-volume Rembrandt: sa vie et ses œuvres appeared.  Upon his retirement from his law practice in 1873, he began contributing to De Nederlandsche spectator (1874-76) and editing the prestigious Kunstkronijk. During his final year, Vosmaer wrote brief biographies of contemporary Dutch and English artists in a series called Onze hedendaagsche schilders. After his death, his Rembrandt life appeared in English in 1892.

Home Country:   The Netherlands

Sources:   De verzameling van mr. Carel Vosmaer, 1826-1888.  Amsterdam: Rijksmuseum, 1989; Borger, Riekele. Drei Klassizisten, Alma Tadema, Ebers, Vosmaer: mit einer Bibliographie der Werke Alma Tadema's.  Leiden: Ex Oriente Lux, 1978; Bastet, F. L.  Mr. Carel Vosmaer: Zijn achtergronden, zijn reizen, zijn tijdgenoten, zijn invloed. The Hague: Bert Bakker/Daamen, 1967, 2nd ed., Met Carel Vosmaer op reis. Amsterdam: Em. Querido, 1989; Maas, Nop, and  Bastet, F. L. and Heijbroek, Jan Frederik.  De literaire wereld van Carel Vosmaer: een documentaire.  's-Gravenhage: SDU, 1989; "Carel Vosmaer." http://home.wanadoo.nl/vosmaerstraat/vosmaer.htm (mirrored from) http://www.xs4all.nl/~jooplaan/multatuli/Me/2789.htm [non extant];  Rappard, Willem F. "Vosmaer, Carel."  Dictionary of Art 32:713.

Bibliography: Rembrandt Harmens van Rijn: ses précurseurs et ses années d'apprentissage. The Hague: M. Nijhoff, 1863;  Rembrandt, sa vie et ses œuvres. 2 vols. The Hague: M. Nijhoff, 1868, English, Rembrandt.  London: S. Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington, 1892; Onze hedendaagsche schilders. 24 numbers. The Hague: M. Nijhoff, 1881-85; Een studie over het schoone in de kunst.   Amsterdam: Kruseman, 1856; De schilderschool: levensschetsen en kunstwerken van eenige meesters uit de Hollandsche en andere scholen.  Haarlem: A. C. Kruseman, 1865.