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| Nikolaus Knüpfer Solon before Croesus ca. 1650-52 oil on panel Getty Museum, Los Angeles |
"After initial training in Leipzig and elsewhere, in 1630 Nikolaus Knüpfer moved to Utrecht, where he studied with Mannerist painter Abraham Bloemaert. Aside from a possible trip to the Hague in the 1640s, Knüpfer remained in Utrecht. In 1637 he joined the Guild of Saint Luke, married, and received an important royal commission for three battle scenes, now lost. He painted a few genre scenes and portraits but concentrated primarily on small-scale history paintings."
"The rederijker theater, the local rhetoricians' guild that put on amateur performances, inspired his work. Knüpfer often created stage-like compositions with flights of steps leading to a dais where a ruler or judge was enthroned. Another source for his compositions was a book, Toneel van de mannelicke achtbaerheyt (The Theater of Manly Respectability), illustrated by Adriaen van de Venne."
– from biographical notes at the Getty Museum
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| Nikolaus Knüpfer Queen of Sheba before Solomon ca. 1640-50 oil on canvas Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
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| Nikolaus Knüpfer Zerubbabel before Darius ca. 1630-50 oil on panel Musée d'art et d'histoire de Narbonne |
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| Nikolaus Knüpfer Zerubbabel before Darius ca. 1645-55 oil on canvas Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
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| Nikolaus Knüpfer Hercules obtaining the Girdle of Hippolyta ca. 1650 oil on panel Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
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| Nikolaus Knüpfer Death of Sophonisba ca. 1635 oil on panel private collection |
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| Nikolaus Knüpfer Lazarus at the Rich Man's Gate ca. 1630-40 oil on panel Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan |
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| Nikolaus Knüpfer Legates of Alexander the Great investing the gardener Abdalonymus with the Kingship of Sidon ca. 1630-50 oil on panel Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam |
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| attributed to Nikolaus Knüpfer Brothel Scene ca. 1650 drawing Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam |
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| Nikolaus Knüpfer Brothel Scene ca. 1650 oil on panel Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam |
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| Nikolaus Knüpfer Scène galante ca. 1650 oil on panel Musée des Ursulines de Mâcon |
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| Nikolaus Knüpfer Pyramus and Thisbe ca. 1630-50 oil on panel Musée des Beaux-Arts de Pau |
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| Nikolaus Knüpfer Portrait of a Couple ca. 1630-50 oil on canvas Musée du Louvre |
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| Nikolaus Knüpfer Tobias and Sarah praying on their Wedding Night 1654 oil on copper Centraal Museum,Utrecht |