Geertgen Tot Sint Jans - Biography

Biography

Though van Mander calls him Geertgen tot Sint Jans, painter from Haarlem, indicating he was from Haarlem, it is possible that he was perhaps born in Leiden, then in the Burgundian Netherlands in the Holy Roman Empire, around the year 1465. The assignment of Leiden as his birthplace is traceable to a 17th century print by Jacob Matham, where he is referred to as Gerardus van Leydanus. There is no known archival evidence for this claim by Matham. This print of The Lamentation of Christ from 1620, shows in the lower left corner "Cum privil. Sa Cae. M. - Gerardus Leydanus Pictor ad S. Ia Bapt. Harlemi pinxit" indicating he was a painter from Leiden at St John the Baptist in Haarlem. In the lower right hand corner it says "Theodorus Matham Sculpsit. Iac Matham excud.", which means that son Theo made the sketch from the painting, and father Jacob Matham engraved it. It was printed in Haarlem in 1620, indicating that the painting was still there at that time. According to van Mander, this painting of the Lamentation was originally on the inside right door of a wood-panel triptych for the high altar of the St. John's church in Haarlem, and was sawn into two paintings after the Protestant Reformation. Both sides are quite fragile and are located in separate museums today. Modern acceptance of Leiden as Geertgen's birthplace is roughly traceable to Johann Kessler's dissertation of 1930.

• Mirror image engraving in 1620 by Jacob Matham, includes a latin poem by Joan Albert Ban, a dedication to Jacob van Campen, and latin quote by Albrecht Dürer, three men inspired by this painting.

• Geertgen painted The Lamentation of Christ for the altarpiece of the church of the Knights of Saint John in Haarlem.

• Other side of this altarpiece showing the burning of the bones of St. John. Probably contains a group portrait of the Haarlem members of the order of St. John, with the Commandeur or Precepteur holding the finger of St. John.

• The Janskerk (St. John's church) in Haarlem where this painting formed the main altarpiece, currently home for the North Holland Archives.

He died, probably still in his twenties, around the year 1495, in Haarlem, where he was buried in the commandry. Modern scholars have attempted to calculate the artist's death date with the information from The Painting-Book (Middle Dutch: Het Schilder-boeck) by Karel van Mander, published in 1604. There are some archival traces that suggest he may in fact have lived into the 16th century.

Though it seems a sleepy little suburban community of Amsterdam today, in the 14th century Haarlem was a major city. It was the second largest city in historical Holland after Dordrecht and before Delft, Leiden, Amsterdam, Gouda and Rotterdam. In 1429 the city gained the right to collect tolls, including ships passing the city on the Spaarne river. At the end of the Middle Ages Haarlem was a flourishing city with a large textile industry, shipyards and beer breweries.

Around 1428 the city was put under siege by the army of Jacqueline, Countess of Hainaut. Haarlem had taken side with the Cods in the Hook and Cod wars, and thus against Jacoba of Bavaria. The entire Haarlemmerhout wood was burnt down by the enemy. In 1469 the commandry of St. John in Haarlem was promoted to a special status that fell directly under the grand Prior of Germany. Before that it was a subordinate commandry of the Balij of Utrecht, which had 12 commandries reporting to it. The commandry of St. John became quite wealthy from donations by the local families Berkenrode, Assendelft, van Brederode, Tetrode, Schoten, and Adrichem. Schoten was also the location of a St. Lazarus church (currently part of Het Dolhuys) that later came into the possession of the St. Janskerk.