Biography and information
Peter Potter was born in the family of Dieuwe Simons and glass master Simone Jacobs. I suppose that from his father, the artist studied painting on glass. In 1625, when Peter was still living in Enkhuizen, he and his wife Aechtie Pouwels birth of my first child, the future artist Paulus (Paul) Potter, whose fame was later surpassed his father's. First painting lessons Paulus received from his father. In 1628 Peter joined the Guild of glass masters of Leiden, and a year later became its head. By the end of the 1620s, Potter enjoys easel painting, developing a naturalistic style of writing. The artist worked in a variety of genres. Early historical scenes that came under his brush ("Potiphar's Wife raises the false accusation against Joseph", 1629), the inherent tinge of mannerism, which influences in the elongated proportions of the figures and slightly shifted perspective. More natural proportions of the characters can be found in historical paintings, domestic scenes, images of gay companies created after 1630 ("Conversation"). More than a simple spatial interpretation is also evident in the still lifes of this period, where the objects are located like inside of a three-dimensional space.
Probably in Leiden appeared first landscapes of Pieter Potter. Large format landscape, bought by the Leiden historian Jan Ordercom, was evaluated in 1640 as the most significant work from his collection. One of the best poteralski work combines the genres of landscape and scenes from Sacred history, and represents St. Paul flown with him an eagle, when Paul led the life of a hermit in the desert.
Early landscapes done in a monochromatic scheme and show the influence of Jan van Goyen, then living in Leiden. Among other Leiden colleagues Peter can be called by Jan Davids de Hema (the baptism of his son Cornelis Potter was a witness in 1631), Harmen and Pieter van Stenvall and Peter van Nordt (latest Potter have in common the use of grey and ochre tones). Work de Hema stylistically and thematically close to monochrome "Rustic still life" Potter, depicting end-of-life utensils in the corner of the three-dimensional space of the shed. Later still — life- allegory of vanity (1636) — you'll be more careful writing and a more vivid palette and evocative of the paintings of Stevanov and their uncle David, Billy.
In the first half of the 1630s Potter moved to Amsterdam, where for several years holds the manufactory that produces the gilded leather curtains (at this time, the eldest son of the painter Paulus lived in the Hague). Didn't stop Peter and of painting: in his work about 1640, as in the work of the son, there is a number of historical works, which present animals.
Compositions of the Potter reflected the influence of van Dyck, Peter Codd and Willem Cornelis of Deister. Despite the fact that the legacy of the artist is not very large, is striking in its diversity: animals, battle scenes, historical and genre painting, landscapes, portraits, still lifes; he was engaged in and music. The works of Peter Potter sometimes confused with the paintings of Paulus; the main distinctive sign, as a rule, is the fact that the son signed their full name and surname, and the father only wrote the first initial of a name.
