David Bles

David Bles studied at Royal Academy of Art. Places of work recorded in the authority are The Hague and Paris. Works named in the authority record are As the Old Sang, So the Young Pipe, The Conversation and Poverty and Wealth. Work by David Bles is recorded in the collections of Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Fries Museum, Dordrechts Museum, Hermitage Museum and Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam.

David Bles was born to a merchant I. Bles. According to the Netherlands Institute for Art History, at the age of thirteen Bles was talented enough to be accepted at the Hague Academy. He attended classes from 1834 to 1837 and from 1838 to 1841. He became a pupil of the painter Cornelis Kruseman and his nephew Jan Adam Kruseman. Bles then travelled to France to study with Joseph-Nicolas Robert-Fleury in Paris. He remained in Paris until 1843 after which he settled in The Hague, though he was a member of the Royal Academy in Amsterdam between 1845 and 1899. In 1850-60, his paintings were exhibited in various European countries. In 1859, he was elected an honorary associate of the Imperial Academy of Arts. He painted scenes from the history of Dutch painting and is best known for portraits and genre paintings.