Hendrick Dubbels

Dutch Republic·1621-1707

Hendrick Dubbels spent his entire life in Amsterdam, where he was born in 1621, the son of a diamond-cutter, and where he died in 1707. He painted marine subjects and winter landscapes, working largely within the orbit of other specialists rather than as an independent master: his early style followed Jan Porcellis, then Simon de Vlieger, in whose studio he worked around 1650–53 and through whom he met Jan van de Cappelle. His finest work dates from the 1650s, when his calm marine scenes and snow-covered landscapes echo Van de Cappelle's tonal restraint. He later worked for the Van de Velde family until they left for London in 1672, and around that time trained the future leading marine painter Ludolf Bakhuizen, for whom he subsequently worked as an assistant. Financial troubles forced him briefly into shopkeeping in the 1660s. His late work, from the 1680s onward, declined markedly, consisting largely of weaker replicas of his own and others' earlier paintings. His works are held in major museums across Europe and the United States.