Jacob Savery
Jacob Savery or Jacob Savery the Elder (1566 – buried 23 April 1603) was a Flemish painter, etcher and draughtsman. He was trained in Antwerp and later moved to the Dutch Republic after 1584. He specialised in still lifes, animals, landscapes en genre paintings.
Also recorded as Jacob Maertensz. Saverij · Jacob Savery the Elder · Jacob (I) Savery · Jacob Savery (I)
Jacob Savery

Rijksmuseum · CC0
- Name
- Jacob Savery
- Born
- 1566
- Died
- 1603
- Field
- Landscape painting and drawing
- Birthplace
- Kortrijk, County of Flanders, Habsburg Netherlands
- Place of death
- Amsterdam, Holland, The Netherlands
- Nationality
- Dutch Republic · Flanders
- Occupation
- painter · printmaker · artist
- Known for
- St. Sebastian fair in a Flemish village · Landscape with the story of Jephthah's daughter
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
VALÉORINE documentary reading
Documentary summary
Jacob Savery or Jacob Savery the Elder (1566 – buried 23 April 1603) was a Flemish painter, etcher and draughtsman. He was trained in Antwerp and later moved to the Dutch Republic after 1584. He specialised in still lifes, animals, landscapes en genre paintings.
Admitted source layer · organised and presented by VALÉORINE
Note VALÉORINE
Jacob Savery (died 1603) was an artist, painter and printmaker and a national of the Dutch Republic and Flanders. Born in Kortrijk, the artist died in Amsterdam.
Jacob Savery worked in Amsterdam and Haarlem. The artist was active in painting. Works include Landscape with the story of Jephthah's daughter.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 26 September 2026
VALÉORINE
Reference Check
Propose documentary evidence for Jacob Savery. A contribution is never written directly as fact: identity, source, rights and evidence gates still decide.
Sign in to contribute
World of VALÉORINE
Documentary connections
Only confirmed graph relationships appear here. Images are shown only when their identity and reuse rights both pass the documentary gate.
Documentary evidence
Evidence Panel
not yet certified
- Identity
- resolved
- Independent source families
- 0
- Admitted assertions
- 0
- Open conflicts
- 0
Authority files
wikidata · Q658943 · wikipedia · Jacob Savery
In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Jacob Savery • Born — 1566 • Died — 1603 • Field — Landscape painting and drawing • Birthplace — Kortrijk, County of Flanders, Habsburg Netherlands • Children — 3 sons and 1 daughter • Place of death — Amsterdam, Holland, The Netherlands
Life
Life
Jacob was born in Kortrijk into a family of painters. His father was Maerten Savery. Jacob probably apprenticed with the Flemish Mannerist painter Hans Bol as was reported by the early biographer Karel van Mander. As Anabaptists, the Savery family was forced to leave their native Flanders for fear of Spanish persecution c. 1580. The Savery family first stayed in Antwerp which had a Calvinist government. Savery was mentioned as the best student of the landscape painter Hans Bol. This must have been in Antwerp in the period from 1580 to 1583. • Illustration — Fair on St Sebastian's Day Jacob Savery settled around 1584 in Haarlem. Here he married Trijntgen Kokelen on 22 March 1587. The family moved to Amsterdam where in 1587, Jacob joined the Guild of St Luke. In 1591, Jacob became a citizen of Amsterdam. He was the teacher of Joos Goeimare, his brother Roelant Savery (who became more famous because he was court painter at the imperial court in Prague), Frans Grebber (then a promising young painter and tapestry worker in Haarlem) and Willem van Nieulandt II. His three sons also became artists: Hans Savery II (1589–1654) was active in Amsterdam and Utrecht, where he assisted and imitated his uncle Roelant, Jacob Savery the Younger (1592–after 1651) was an animal painter and Salomon Savery (1594–1678) was a respected Amsterdam printmaker and publisher. Jacob Savery the Younger's son, Jacob Savery III (1617–66), became a printmaker and publisher. Jacob Saverys' daughter Maria was the mother of the painters Geertruydt Roghman, Roelant Roghman and Magdalena Roghman. Savery died in Amsterdam where he was buried on 23 April 1603. The cause of death was reportedly the plague.
Work
Work
Jacob’s earliest known works of 1584–6 are mostly cabinet-size landscapes that clearly show the influence of his master Hans Bol. • Illustration — Panoramic river landscape, c. 1590 In Amsterdam Jacob was active as painter, etcher and draftsman. He produced a series of etchings in Pieter Bruegel the Elder's stipple technique depicting idealized rural scenes full of picturesque details, such as castle ruins and rabbit hunts. It is believed that Jacob also produced forgeries of Bruegel's pen-and-ink drawings of mountains and rural or Amsterdam subjects by adding false Bruegel signatures and dates between 1559 and 1562. These works have now been attributed to Jacob himself. His genre paintings of low-life scenes are similar in style to Bruegel. Savery also painted landscapes that were influenced by Gillis van Coninxloo who worked in Amsterdam from 1595. Despite contemporary references to his flower paintings, no examples have been identified. Jacob’s animal paintings, with their abundance of creatures, adopt a near naturalistic approach. This new approach to animal painting likely played a role in his brother Roelant’s development of animal painting into an independent genre.
Identity and origins
Identity and origins
The authorities additionally record the headings Jacob Maertensz. 4 children are recorded: Jacob Savery, Jan Savery, Salomon Savery and Maria Savery. Other recorded relations include Geertruydt Roghman.
Identity
Identity
Jacob Savery is recorded with the occupation printmaker. Recorded as painter, printmaker and artist.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
Explore 1560–1603
The full dated record · 11 entries
1560
Jacob Savery was born on 1 January 1560.
1589
The gathering of the animals in pairs in Noah's ark (Genesis 6:8-9) is dated 1589.
1591
Landscape with Tobias and the angel Raphael travelling, accompanied by Tobias' dog is dated 1591.
1591
Orpheus Charming the Animals and Trees with his Song is dated 1591.
1591
The Garden of Eden and the Fall of Adam and Eve is dated 1591.
1591
Village kermesse with figures dancing is dated 1591.
1591
Extensive landscape with a bull hunt is dated 1591.
1591
Village landscape with hunters is dated 1591.
1593
Landscape with huntsmen near a village and a walled-in town in the background is dated 1593.
1600
Wood landscape with the Fall of Man: Eve offers the fruit to Adam (Genesis 3:6) is dated 1600.
1603
Jacob Savery died at Amsterdam.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Jacob Savery was born at Kortrijk.
Birthplace
Jacob Savery died at Amsterdam.
Deathplace
Context
Primary material
Context
The circumstances in which Jacob Savery stands.
Documents and archives
Primary material
Documents and archives
scholarly publication
- Savery, Jacob I or Jacques, Benezit Dictionary of Artists, 2011
Scholarly · Crossref registry · 2011
- Savery, Jacob Ii, the Younger, Benezit Dictionary of Artists, 2011
Scholarly · Crossref registry · 2011
- Savery, Jacob III, Benezit Dictionary of Artists, 2011
Scholarly · Crossref registry · 2011
reference work
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q658943: Jacob Savery
Reputable secondary · Wikimedia Foundation
- “Jacob Savery”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Name variations: Jacob Maertensz. Saverij and Jacques Savery
- 2.Iaques Savry and Hans Bol in Karel van Mander's Schilderboeck, 1604, courtesy of the Digital library for Dutch literature
- 3.Joaneath A. Spicer. "Savery." Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. Web. 16 Nov. 2013
- 4.Jacob Savery at the Netherlands Institute for Art History
- 5.Joaneath A. Spicer. "Jacob Savery I" Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. Web. 16 Nov. 2013
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
scholarly publication
Savery, Jacob I or Jacques, Benezit Dictionary of Artists, 2011Crossref registry
Verifiedscholarly publication
Savery, Jacob Ii, the Younger, Benezit Dictionary of Artists, 2011Crossref registry
Verifiedscholarly publication
Savery, Jacob III, Benezit Dictionary of Artists, 2011Crossref registry
Verifiedreference work
Wikidata, structured authority record Q658943: Jacob SaveryWikimedia Foundation
Partially resolvedreference work
Partially resolved
Further particulars
Held on the record
Further particulars
Open the remaining particulars
Formation and teaching. Each of those relationships is stated by the authority record rather than inferred from style. Work and production. Works recorded as notable number 2: St.
Sebastian fair in a Flemish village and Landscape with the story of Jephthah's daughter
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Prints
4,138 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Jacob LawrenceEngraver
- Jacob ManzEngraver
- Jacob MathamEngraver
- Jacob NeefsEngraver
- Jacob SteinhardtEngraver
- Jacob van der HeydenEngraver
- Jacob van RuisdaelEngraver
- Jacob WienerEngraver
Best supported in this field
For owners
Own a work by Jacob Savery?
A specialist will read what you send and tell you what the house can establish, what it cannot, and whether the object is suited to sale. There is no charge and no obligation. The object stays with you throughout; nothing is shipped to us unless it is arranged in writing beforehand.