Govert Dircksz Camphuysen

Govert Dircksz Camphuysen (1624 - 1672) was an animal painter, a painter of portraits, still life, Italian landscapes, animal and farm pieces.His style was influenced by the work of Paul Potter and Aert van der Neer.

Govert Dircksz Camphuysen Was the son of the painter Dirk Raphaelsz.

Camphuysen, a Remonstrant minister, poet and writer of founding works. He had studied in Leiden and worked at Loevesteyn and Utrecht, and had to subdue for example in Amsterdam, because of his Army attitude, with Willem Jansz. Blaeu in his print shop at Damrak. In 1620 all Remonstrant ministers were banned and he left for Norden to begin a printing workshop with his Haarlem friend Pieter Arentsz under the protection of Enno III of East Frisia. Camphuysen lived in Harlingen, on Ameland and settled in Dokkum in 1623. When Camphuysen died in 1627, his mother moved to Amsterdam with the children.

Mother Camphuysen lived on the Lindengracht. Dirck Govertsz. Married in 1647, and became poorter in 1650. When he lived in the Kalverstraat, Camphuysen became in financial trouble and left the city. Around 1652 he lived in Sweden and was appointed in 1655 as a court painter.
He worked for Magnus Gabriel de la Gardie and portrayed Hedwig Eleonora of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp, the wife of Karel X of Sweden. Camphuysen returned to Amsterdam in 1665. He was buried on July 4, 1672 from his home at Oudeschans.

Govert Camphuysen's works are scarce, probably some known as paintings by Paul Potter, others are attributed to his cousin? A portrait of his hand is kept in the Rijksmuseum in Amnsterdam.

His son Herman was possibly a decorative painter at the Oper am Gänsemarkt in Hamburg.

He portrayed queen Hedvig Eleonora in Stockholm, but Camphuyzen is most famous for his stables, with farmers and farmers' wives.

A painting in the Dulwich Gallery of Peasants with cows before a cottage, with a forged signature of Paulus Potter, is attributed to Camphuysen; in the Rotterdam Museum is a picture of Peasants before an Inn, signed G. Camphuijsen; the Brussels Gallery has an 'Interior of a Farm,' signed with his name and dated 1650; and a painting of 'Peasants and Cattle before an Inn' in the Cassel Gallery is also attributed to him. In the Hermitage, St. Petersburg, are two Interiors of Cow-sheds, both bearing his signature.
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