Pieter Codde

Pieter Jacobsz Codde (Dec 11, 1599 - Oct 12, 1678) was a Dutch painter of genre works, guardroom scenes and portraits

Codde was a technically skilled painter He is said to have studied with Frans Hals, but it is more likely that his training was with the portrait painter, inn-keeper, actor and art-dealer Barent van Someren (1572–1632) or possibly with Cornelis van der Voort (1576–1624)

In 1623 he married the 18-year-old Marritje Arents During a party that Van Someren gave in the summer of 1625 on the Meerhuysen outdoor site, Codde went to the fist with the artist Willem Duyster, in which he could hit Duyster with great violence in the face with a pottery Due to inheritances, Codde could afford to buy a house on the Sint Antoniesbreestraat in Amsterdam, at that time a popular artist district His daughter Clara died in 1635 and a year later he divorced his wife Anna because she would have deceived him with a number of other men His wife drew in to Pieter Potter, their neighbor and the father of painter Paul Potter

In 1636 the couple divorced after he was accused of raping the maid; because nothing could be proved he was only locked up for one night His wife went to live with Pieter Potter, their neighbor and the father of the painter Paulus Potter

Codde was a much sought after painter and could buy a house at the chic Keizersgracht in 1657 for 5,000 guilders At his death, he left everything after the maid Barendje Willems A year later, she sold the property Keizersgracht 385 This canal house is usually associated with the painter Jacob de Wit, a later occupant When Pieter Codde died his maid, Barendje Willems, inherited most of his property

Work:
For a long time, Codde was thought to be a student of Frans Hals, but more likely his teacher was the portrait painter, innkeeper, actor and art dealer Barent van Someren (1572-1632) or possibly Cornelis van der Voort (1576-1624)

His earliest known work is Portrait of a Young Man (1625), now in possession of the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford Most works known by Codde were painted in Amsterdam and his small paintings Codde was a technically skilled painter who worked very precisely His paintings are mainly characterized by the use of silver-gray tones; Many of the works also have a musical theme, such as the first genre we know of him, Dance Lesson (now in the Louvre) from 1627 Also Musicing Company (1639), The Ringtones (Now in the Philadelphia Museum of Art) and Concert (In Uffizi in Florence) have a music theme

Codde also painted historical and religious themes, such as The Worship of the Shepherds from 1645 (now owned by the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam), but was especially famous for his genrests These were mainly interiors in places such as waiting rooms, homes and brothels A famous work is The Galant Company, nicknamed The Return of the Hunters (1633) In this painting (now in the Rijksmuseum) we see a celebrated women's company Two men just come in with a shot hare and two patrons The hunt had a symbolic meaning here: it was for the men's love hunt for the women The sexual meaning is further underlined by the four-poster bed

Though it is unknown whether he studied with Hals, his style is undoubtedly similar in some respects He was commissioned in 1637 to complete an unfinished work of Hals, the schutterstuk called Officers of the Company of the Amsterdam Crossbow Civic Guard Under Captain Reynier Reael and Lieutenant Cornelis Michielsz Blaeuw While the choice of Codde to complete this work by Hals was not an obvious selection at the time, Codde's work is recognizably smoother It is thought that Hals completed only the left half of the composition, with the third, fifth and seventh faces from the right; the rest was executed by Codde The piece has become known as, The Meagre Company, from comments by later viewers in the Rijksmuseum who observed that the men painted well over a decade later by Rembrandt in his 'The Night Watch' were much fatter

Although it is not certain whether Codde has been in French Hals's teaching, his style is certainly comparable in some aspects of the style of Hals In 1637 he was commissioned to complete a shooter of Frans Hals, Captain Reinier Reael's corporaalship and Lieutenant Cornelis Michielsz Blaeuw, because, in the opinion of the clients, it was too long for him to think Codde's work on this famous painting, nicknamed The Slender Company, went so flawlessly over that of Hals that it's not sure who has painted According to the Rijksmuseum, where the painting is now, Codde's style is recognizable smoother than that of Hals Probably, Hals painted the left half of the shooter and a large part of the faces and hands; The rest was done by Codde

Codde's pupil was Willem Duyster, who was about the same age, and Jacob Duck was influenced by him Simon Kick was their brother-in-law Adriaen Brouwer, Gerard Terborch, and Pieter Quast also belonged to this group of painters that developed the style of genre scene Codde may have been related to a poet with almost the same name, Pieter Adriaensz Codde
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