VOSMAER, Jacob Woutersz - b. ~1584 Delft, d. 1641 Delft

Dutch painter. The son of a gold- and silversmith, he gave his age as twenty-four when he married in 1608. By that time he had travelled to Italy. His teacher is unknown, but his flower paintings reveal a close affinity with still-lifes by Jacob de Gheyn the Younger, who was active in The Hague. He was on the master list of the Delft painters’ guild in 1613. In 1633 he served as headman of the guild together with Willem van der Vliet, and he was also a captain major of a civic-guard company.

Vosmaer started as a landscapist, but there are several references to his flower pictures from the 1620s. In the April 1642 inventory of Vosmaer’s own estate, nine pictures are attributed to him, out of 104 paintings. It appears possible that the painter was also active as an art dealer.

He was the uncle of Daniel Vosmaer and of Christiaen van Couwenbergh.