Herman van Swanevelt Biography

Born in Holland, Herman van Swanevelt worked outside of his native country for his entire career. His first signed and dated paintings where done in Paris in 1623. Six years later, he moved to Rome and began painting landscapes with biblical and mythological subjects. The composition of his work was adapted from Cornelis van Poelenburgh and was popular in Rome, especially liked by the Barberini family and the Vatican. In addition to commissions from those clients, he painted landscapes for Philip IV’s Buen Retiro Palace in Madrid. In 1641, Swanevelt returned to Paris and joined the Academie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture in 1651.