Jacob Cornelisz van Oostsanen

Jacob Cornelisz van Oostsanen (before 1470 – 1533) was a Northern Netherlandish designer of woodcuts and painter He was one of the first important artists working in Amsterdam, at a time when it was a flourishing provincial town

Little is known about Jacob Cornelisz van Oostsanen's life Historians rely mostly on the biographical sketch of him written by Karel van Mander, the archives of Amsterdam, and the archives of Egmond Abbey, a Benedictine monastery that commissioned works by him His name indicates he was from Oostzaan, North Holland, east of the river Zaan, north of Amsterdam His family managed land in that area A good impression of life there in those times can be had by a visit to the Zaanse Schans His entire family were painters Cornelis Buys I, also known as Master of Alkmaar, was his brother, as was Cornelis Buys II His sons Cornelis Jacobz and Dirk Jacobsz became portrait painters, as did his grandsons Cornelis Anthonisz and Jacob Dirksz

As birth or baptism dates have been lost, all of their birth dates have been approximated from other archival evidence such as death dates of other family members Similar to the archival evidence surrounding Frans Hals, the first known commissions for Jacob Cornelisz were from when he was at least 35 years of age It is assumed that he worked in a painters's workshop before that, and judging from his close copies of Haarlem painting techniques, this was possibly in Haarlem

He bought his first house in Amsterdam in 1500, in the Kalverstraat Twenty years later he bought the neighboring house For this reason he is sometimes called Jacob Cornelisz van Amsterdam His wife is called a widow in archives for the first time in 1533 The last payments made to him according to the Egmond Abbey archives were in 1526–1528 for a retable (lost during the troubles of the Protestant Reformation)

In his earlier years Jacob Cornelisz was under the influence of Haarlem painter Geertgen tot Sint Jans The colors and techniques suggest that he learned his craft in Haarlem His later influence then became painter Albrecht Dürer He may have gone to visit him in Antwerp in the 1520sThe painting patterns of his earlier works suggest he was trained as a woodcut designer or goldsmith One of his first works was Christ as a gardener

There are about 200 known woodcuts and 27 paintings by Cornelisz His prints are traditional north Netherlandish small-scale book illustrations Writings are used to present the narrative with actions placed in the foreground

Throughout his artistic career Cornelisz's painting style changed At first he started as a late Gothic craftsman under the influence of the Haarlem school and then ended with a style presented by the painting Saul and the Witch of Endor In this particular painting the details are simple, elongated proportions and a looser stroke of paint Though he excelled as a technical painter, he was not a good leader He progressed at presenting contemporary trends in subject-matter and style

Cornelisz's symbolism was also conservative as well He painted mostly sacred themes with traditional iconography in old and new combinations in response to an event, such as the Reformation Some of his works such as Christ as the Man of Sorrows (1510) were used by biblical humanists and the Amsterdam oligraphy, who wanted to defend Catholic orthodoxy against the claims of early Reformers The painting represented Roman Catholic beliefs in an easily understood format Other paintings such as The Nativity (1512) and Saul and the Witch of Endor were visually similar to what the Catholic essays patrons were writing

Later in his life Jacob Cornelisz van Oostsanen ran a workshop with pupils, like his son Dirk Jacobsz and Jan van Scorel did after him In the workshop, his assistants helped him design book illustrations, woodcuts and stained-glass windows After 1526 Jacob produced only one known painting, Self Portrait (1533) Scholars were led to believe this was the year of his death, but according to Dutch historian I H van Eeghen there was a seven-year gap between paintings, which was unusual He suggested it could have been his son that produced the Self Portrait (1533)

Some regard him as the last of the Flemish painters not to show an Italian influence

Painting:
Noli me tangere (Christ appears to Mary Magdalena as a gardener), 1507 Museum Schloss Wilhelmshöhe, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Kassel
Crucifixion, 1507 Private property
Hieronymus-Retabel, 1511 Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
The Mystical Marriage of Saint Catherine, 1510-1515 National Gallery of Art, Washington
Salome, 1524 Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
Saul and the Wife of Endor, 1526 Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
Self-portrait, 1533 Historical Museum, Amsterdam (loan of the Amsterdam Rijksmuseum)
Nativity (back: St Laurentius and Katharina), Kunstmuseum Basel (Bachofen-Burckhardt Foundation)

Woodcuts:
Of particular note are his two series on the "Passion of Christ": the "Great Round Passion" from 1511-1514, which appeared in four editions, the last 1651 in Brussels with Johannes Mommaert and the "Kleine Passion" of 1520 The individual sheets are not The "Kleine Passion" forms a frieze over three meters long, and the "Große round Passion" forms an 80 cm by 180 cm picture wall

Stylistic influences:
Cornelisz Is still connected with Old Netherlandish painting He is seen by some art historians as the last great Dutch painter who has not yet taken over the new style of Italian Renaissance painting He was probably a successor or perhaps even a pupil of the Geertgen dead Sint Jans from Haarlem, but worked himself then in Amsterdam The influence of Lucas van Leyden seems to be visible in the composition of the paintings, and a connection to the unidentified master of the Figdorian cross-acceptance is sometimes assumed With his woodcuts and their ancient, traditional narrative, it still exists today that Cornelisz Was familiar with the work of Albrecht Diirer

Works:
Portrait of Edzard I, Count of Ostfriesland, Landesmuseum Schloss Oldenburg
Salome
Saint Barbara
Portrait of Graf Edzard I, Count of Ostfriesland Landesmuseum Schloss Oldenburg
Laughing Fool
Religious paintings
The temptation of Christ
El nacimiento de la Virgen María
The Adoration of the Christ Child, c 1515,
Crucifixion, Rijksmuseum
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