Cornelis van der Voort

He played an important role in the development of portrait painting in the early 17th-century Dutch Republic. He is particularly noted for introducing the life-size, full-length format to Dutch portraiture.

The recorded working language is Dutch. Places of work recorded in the authority are Brussels and Amsterdam. Works named in the authority record are Portrait of Jacobus Rolandus (1562-1632), Portrait of Dirck Hasselaer (1581-1645) and Portrait of Brechtje Overrijn van Schoterbosch (1592-1618). Work by Cornelis van der Voort is recorded in the collections of Finnish National Gallery, Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp, Amsterdam Museum, Rijksmuseum and Statens Museum for Kunst.

Very little is known about van der Voort's early life. He was likely born around 1576 in Antwerp in the Habsburg Netherlands as the son of Pieter van der Voort, a cloth weaver by trade. The family van der Voort moved to the Northern Netherlands in 1585, likely fleeing Antwerp because they were Calvinists. His father received his citizenship of Amsterdam in 1592. It is not known with whom he studied painting. Aert Pietersz and Cornelis Ketel are considered likely masters. As a young man he was praised by the leading art historian and theorist Karel van Mander. In 1606 his brother Hans, a tailor, bought three parcels on which two houses were built. Hans moved into the one on the corner, and Cornelis in the one next to it. Only a few years later Cornelis sold the house. In 1639 Rembrandt and his wife Saskia van Uylenburgh moved in. Today it is the Rembrandt House Museum. Around 1613 he was a member of a schutterij in Amsterdam and painted a few schuttersstukken. In 1619 he was the head of the Guild of St. Luke. At some time before 1620 he inherited the house on the corner of the Sint Antoniesbreestraat from his brother. Van der Voort probably had seven children and married twice: in 1598 with Geertrui Willems, who died in 1609, and in 1613 with Cornelia Brouwers. He died in Amsterdam and was buried on 2 November 1624. In August 1625 his inventory was sold. In 1626 his art business was taken over by Hendrick van Uylenburgh. His widow moved to Leiden. • Illustration — Schuttersstuk

Van der Voort painted full-length portraits in contemporary interiors: e.g. of Jan Cornelisz. Geelvinck as one of the regenten of a hospital, of Joan Huydecoper and his late wife and of Nicolaes Tulp. His work was in great demand and held in high esteem. He had a strong influence on the early portraits of Rembrandt, as well as the work of Nicolaes Eliasz. Pickenoy and Thomas de Keyser. His own students included David Bailly, who copied his collection of paintings, Pieter Luyx, Dirk Harmensz. and probably Pieter Codde.