Biography and information
Gerrit Bleeker (1600, Haarlem - 1656, Amsterdam) was a Dutch painter and printmaker. He lived and worked in Haarlem about 1625. He painted mainly landscapes, sometimes portraits. In his paintings show the influence of Pieter Lastman, Claes Moeyaert and Rembrandt van Rijn. He is particularly known for his etchings. He married Anna Emsing, they had a son Dirk, who also became a painter, and two daughters: Katherine (1619/20) and Maria (1626/27), who married William Kula Jacob (1639 - 1666), artist's thirteen years younger than her. The work of Bleeker stored in the Frans Hals Museum and Szepműveszeti Múzeum''s in Budapest. Gerrit drew stories on biblical subjects, cavalry battles and landscapes. He was a member of the Council of the Haarlem Guild of St. Luke and served as a musketeer in the fourth division of the St. George Civic Guard (the Old Civil Guard) in 1639 - 1645. In the second half of the 1640-ies he and his family moved to Amsterdam. In 1656 he was there and died, and his wife Anna died shortly after her husband in 1657.
