Jacobus van Looy

Jacobus van Looy studied at Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten. Training under August Allebé and Hendrik Jacobus Scholten is recorded. The recorded working language is Dutch. The field of work recorded is painting. Subjects and genres recorded for the work are Orientalism. Works named in the authority record are The garden wall, Orange Festival, Blooming Clover and Anthonie Gerardus van der Hout (1820-92). Work by Jacobus van Looy is recorded in the collections of Frans Hals Museum, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Teylers Museum, Museum Het huis van Looy and Dordrechts Museum. Distinctions recorded are Tollensprijs, Prijs voor Meesterschap, Royal medal made available by queen Wilhelmina and Prix de Rome.

• Name — Jacobus van Looy • Born — 2 September 1855 • Birthplace — Haarlem, Netherlands • Died — 24 February 1930 • Place of death — Haarlem, Netherlands • Field — Painting

• Illustration — Haarlem orphans painted by Charles Frederic Ulrich in 1884. Though Van Looy was already travelling by that time, this painting shows the uniform for Haarlem orphans that he wore until his teens, with one red sleeve and one blue sleeve. It also shows the interior of what is now the Frans Hals Museum, when it was still an orphanage. • Illustration — House where Jacob van Looy lived until he died, and where a museum was opened after the death of his widow from 1949 to 1967. Van Looy was the son of a carpenter, but his father lost his job when his eyesight began to fail. His mother died when he was five years old and when his father died soon afterwards, he ended up in the Haarlem municipal orphanage. He trained to become a house painter, but was able to follow drawing classes, from 1877 at the "Rijksacademie van Beeldende Kunsten" in Amsterdam. In 1884, he received the Prix de Rome, which allowed him to travel. The years 1885-86 he spent traveling through Italy, Spain, and Morocco. He was a pupil of August Allebé, Jan Jacob Goteling Vinnis, Dirk Jan Hendrik Joosten, and Hendrik Jacobus Scholten. There he began to draw sketches, which are collected in two volumes. Until 1894 he lived in Amsterdam, when he married Titia van Gelder and moved to Soest. In 1901, he spent another year in Spain and Morocco. He moved back to Haarlem in 1913, when the orphanage where he grew up was converted to the Frans Hals Museum. He bought a house on the corner of the Haarlemmerhout park, where he was often seen taking walks and served as an inspiration for Godfried Bomans, among others. After his death this house was converted to a museum in his name (now only visible with a plaque on the facade).

• Proza (1889) • Gekken (1892) • Feesten (1903) • De wonderlijke avonturen van Zebedeus (1910–1925) • 'Een praatje over "vertalen" met eenige vertaalde fragmenten' (1912) • Reizen (1913) • Jaapje (1917). in the DBNL • Feesten (1920) • Jaap (1923) • De wonderlijke avonturen van Zebedeus (1925) • De wonderlijke avonturen van Zebedeus (1925) • Nieuw proza (1929) • Op reis (1929) • Jacob (1930) • Gedichten (only scans available) (1932) • Jaapje (1963) • Proza (1981) His work has been hailed as epic, with tender humanity and a gentle wisdom. Notable written works include the short story, De Dood van mijn Poes (The Death of My Cat) and his autobiograpthe Netherlandshy, Jaapje (Jimmy). Many of his paintings are to be found in the Netherlands' leading museums.

In the years 1948-1976 the museum "Huis van Looy" became a gallery for modern art exhibitions. When it closed its doors, most of the collection and the accompanying archive was given to the Frans Hals Museum.