BLOEMAERT, Hendrick

Dutch painter and poet, member of a family of artists, one of the four sons of Abraham Bloemaert. He received his initial training from his father. He travelled to Italy and was in Rome in 1627; then returned to Utrecht c. 1630. His oeuvre includes religious works, mythological and genre scenes and portraits. His best works are those in which he combined the style of the Utrecht Caravaggisti with the decorative manner of his father. As a poet, Hendrick is best known for his rhymed translation of Guarini’s Il pastor fido (Venice, 1590).