Gallery Notes

PREVIEW: Bronkhorst is one of those Dutch Old Masters about whom virtually nothing is known, save for a single, rather charming fact about some other, unrelated activity. Just as it is recorded that his famous near-contemporary and architectural painter, Jan van der Heyden, was also a pioneer firefighter, so one of the few agreed facts of Bronkhorst’s life is that he was a pastry chef in Haarlem. According to Houbraken, that invaluable early biographer of many Dutch artists, he learned to paint from his father, Pieter Bronkhorst (1599-1661), a minor Delft artist, and his drawing of birds remained only a hobby until later in life...