HONDIUS, Abraham Danielsz.
Dutch painter, etcher and draughtsman, active also in England. He was the son of Daniel Abramsz. de Hondt, the city stone mason of Rotterdam. He is said to have received his first training from Pieter de Bloot and Cornelis Saftleven. This is confirmed by parallels between early paintings by Hondius and Saftleven, who worked in Rotterdam from 1637. Also in favour of this assumption is the fact that works by Hondius are often confused with those of Ludolf de Jongh, another pupil of Saftleven. Hondius successfully combined various stylistic influences in his compositions, without, however, developing a style of his own. More than two thirds of his paintings, etchings and drawings are animal pieces: hunting scenes, animals fighting and animal studies. He also represented landscapes, genre, religious and mythological scenes such as Pyramus and Thisbe (c. 1600-65; Rotterdam, Boymans-van Beuningen).
