Jan Weissenbruch Painting of Culemborg

by Paul Meijering

Realistic painting in acrylic by the nineteenth century city painter Jan Weissenbruch depicting a scene of the courtyard at the town hall in Culemborg, all painted by artist Paul Meijering - the original painting is 120 x 90 cm.

Johannes Weissenbruch (The Hague, March 18, 1822 - there, February 15, 1880), was one of the most famous city painters of the nineteenth century. He was not only a well-known painter, but also achieved fame as a watercolorist, draughtsman, lithographer and especially as an etcher. He was a cousin of visual artist Jan Hendrik Weissenbruch.

As a young boy, Jan Weissenbruch took courses from 1835-1838 at what would later be called the Royal Academy of Art. From 1839 to 1847, he trained at the Hague Academy. Some of his teachers were Georg Hessler, Antonie Waldorp, Isaac Cornelis Elink Sterk, but especially Sam Verveer taught him the composition of city and village scenes.

Jan Weissenbruch worked primarily in The Hague, although he also spent some time in Leerdam, in Culemborg and in Belgium, where he painted St. Denijskerk (Liege), among other places. His preference was for very minutely painted cityscapes, with bridges and canals and often with sharp incident sunlight.

Barely out of the academy, in 1847, he played a role in the founding of the artistic society Pulchri Studio, along with his cousin Johan Hendrik, Willem Roelofs and the first chairman Bart van Hove. In the division of labor, Weissenbruch and Lambertus Hardenberg took charge of the organization of art reviews.

Weissenbruch was also a restorer and art collector. Among other things, he collected drawings, prints and books.