Dates | 1625 - 1654 |
Roles | Artist |
Nationality | Dutch |
Born | Enkhuizen, The Netherlands |
Died | Amsterdam, The Netherlands |
When Paulus Potter died of tuberculosis before he was thirty years old, he had already profoundly influenced the way animals are depicted in European art. Potter created portraits of animals, making them his picture's focus, not just a backdrop for human action. The precocious son of a painter, his first dated work is from 1640. He entered Delft's
His contemporaries recognized Potter's talent. The famous Dr. Nicolas Tulp, who had spotted the young Rembrandt van Rijn's genius twenty years earlier, persuaded Potter to move to Amsterdam in 1652, whereupon he became Potter's mentor. In the 1800s, Potter's life-size The Young Bullwas as famous as Rembrandt's Night Watch.Potter's etchings show the same sensitivity as his paintings.