Johannes Spilberg

Spilberg was born and died in Düsseldorf.[1] He learned to paint from his father, who painted in oils and on glass, who then sent him to Antwerp, to learn under Rubens.[2] While underway, he heard that Rubens had died, so he settled in Amsterdam and became apprentice to Govert Flink, a student of Rembrandt, for seven years.[2] He won a commission for a schutterstuk from the Burgomasters of Amsterdam that still hangs in Amsterdam. In Amsterdam he married Marrite Gerrits in 1649.[1]

He worked for years as family portrait painter for Johann Wilhelm, Elector Palatine. His uncle Gabriel was court painter for Charles II of Spain.[2]

Though he worked in Düsseldorf, he kept his family in Amsterdam, since he was traveling with his patron most of the time anyway.[2] He taught his daughter Adriana to paint, and her talents became so well known, that she was offered a position in Düsseldorf as well.[2] Her father wanted her to marry a painter, however, and felt her chances were higher of finding a good one in Amsterdam.[2] Eventually, she did marry the painter Willem Breekveld in 1684, but he died in 1687.[2] After Spilberg's death, she married his successor in Düsseldorf, Eglon van der Neer in December 1697.[2]

He is known for portraits, landscapes, and historical allegories in the Rembrandt school.[1]

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  1644 religious painting of Jael with her hammer and nail, style of Flinck, collection Gemäldegalerie Berlin
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  The Feast of Esther by Johannes Spilberg the Younger
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  Family of Sophia Eleonore of Saxony, 1667.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Johannes Spilberg.

• Johannes Spilberg on Artnet