Adriaen van Cronenburg

He produced mainly portraits. Cronenburg was active between about 1547 and 1590, working in the provinces of Friesland and Groningen. He also spent some time in Belgium, especially in Leuven and Antwerp, where he painted the portrait of Katheryn of Berain now in National Museum Cardiff. Cronenburg's cousin married into two aristocratic families in succession, and it is likely through this connection that he became secretary of Tietjerksteradeel in 1567. Following the Union of Utrecht, Cronenburg left Friesland in 1580 due to his refusal to give up Catholicism. He was allowed to return to Friesland in 1592 and settled in Bergum. The last signed works known are from 1587 and 1590. The identity of Adriaen van Cronenburg was established by A. Wassenbergh, formerly the director of the Fries Museum, based on his unusual signature, A.a.a.a. van Cronenburg. For many years, the illogical signature was 'corrected' to 'Anna van Cronenburg,' but Wassenbergh showed that the four a's were a rebus for Adriaen. In Dutch A.a.a.a, read as 'A, three a's,' is pronounced 'A, drie a'en,' or Adriaen.

The recorded working language is Dutch. Works named in the authority record are Presumed Posthumous Portrait of Rudolph van Buynou (Bunau), Drossard of Stavoren and Chief Magistrate of Gaasterland and Portrait of Cunera van Martena, Wife of Rudolph van Buynou. Work by Adriaen van Cronenburg is recorded in the collections of Museo del Prado, Fries Museum, National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, Rijksmuseum and Westphalian State Museum of Art and Cultural History.