Hendrick Dubbels

Who was Hendrick Dubbels?

Hendrick Dubbels or Hendrick Jacobsz. Dubbels and variants was a Dutch Golden Age painter of marine subjects and winter landscapes, who spent much of his career working in the studios of other marine artists.

Dubbels was born and lived his entire life in Amsterdam. He was the son of a diamond-cutter, and baptised in the Oude Kerk on May 2, 1621. He married in 1651 and again in 1656, when he described himself as a "painter", but he is described as a "shopkeeper" in 1663 and 1665, when he was made bankrupt. He had been a "winkelier" or haberdasher-draper, "selling caps, bonnets and stockings". This was presumably an unsuccessful attempt to escape from the highly competitive Amsterdam art world. His earliest dated work is a drawing from 1641, with a dated painting from 1643. His marine style was initially based on that of Jan Porcellis, then that of Simon de Vlieger in whose studio he worked c. 1650-3, bringing him into contact with Jan van de Cappelle.

The 1650s were the period of his best work, including his winter landscapes, which were strongly influenced by those of Jan van de Cappelle, as were his tranquil marine scenes.