Willem Cornelisz Duyster

Willem Cornelisz Duyster (1599 - 1635) was a Dutch Golden Age painter from Amsterdam, best known for his "guardroom scenes", genre paintings showing the military life

Son of Cornelis Dircksz, According to the Netherlands Institute for Art History, he was named after his house on the Amsterdam Koningstraat, which was called "De Duystere Werelt", the dim world

The artist's name appeared for the first time on July 1, 1625 in a notarial act drawn up following a litigation with Pieter Codde and his period of activity can be considered therefore beginning in that year He knew his exact contemporary Pieter Codde well though, in a brawl between them in 1625, Codde hit him in the face with a "tin pitcher" at a country house party hosted by another artist

He married the sister of the painter Simon Kick (1603–1652), who in turn married Willem's sister She had a daughter Annetge while at the same time her sister Christina (Stijntje) married Kick Soon his father died

After an early period as a portraitist, Duyster became a specialist in genre scenes such as merry company paintings, and military scenes Unlike many painters of guardroom scenes, he avoided depicting prostitutes, with the women in his military paintings often hostages for ransom or the victims of looting or worse He exhibited a strong ability to paint textiles, accurately characterize his subjects, and to depict relationships between his figures

Duyster mainly painted genres, even with night-time candlelight or lamp lighting, portraits, still life, equestrian or military subjects , such as paintings depicting soldiers intent on playing cards or taking prostitutes These representations of the lives of soldiers not in service were called cortegaardije (from the French corps de garde) and were very popular during the second quarter of the seventeenth century

Duyster's artistic production makes him a follower of Willem Buytewech , while reminiscent of works by Dirck Hals, Anthonie Palamedes, Jacob van Velsen, Thomas de Keyser and Daniël Cletcher Its characteristic was a good ability to treat chiaroscuro, a remarkable ability in tissue yield, exploiting a subtle range of grays and the ability to characterize individuals and psychological relationships among them It is considered, together with Pieter Codde, Simon Kick and Gerard ter Borch, one of Amsterdam's gender painters who, between 1620 and 1650, made small paintings with companies and military life scenes His style influenced Mathieu Le Nain

Duyster's career was cut short when he succumbed to the plague in 1635 His life was short, he died in 1635 of plague

Works:
The Musical Rally, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
Family portrait with a man in black, probably Joos Banckert (1599-1647) and his family, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
Portrait of a man4, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
Portrait of a Woman5, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
The players of trictrac6, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
A marriage ceremony, traditionally called the marriage of Adriaen Ploos van Amstel and Agnes van Bijler, 16166, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
The Marauders, between 1630 and 1635, Louvre, Paris
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