Isaac Claesz. van Swanenburg 1537 - 1614

For many years, the artist Isaac Claesz. van Swanenburg (1537-1614) has virtually held a monopoly position in the city of Leiden, which flourished again after its siege and liberation. He owed this position to his strikingly versatile talent and to the near absence of other painters of any significance in the city. Consequently, Van Swanenburg is the connecting link between two prosperous periods of painting in Leiden, that of Lucas van Leyden and his immediate successors, and that of the 17th century, with renowned names such as Rembrandt, Lievens, Van Goyen and Dou. Van Swanenburg's best-known works are paintings with scenes from the Leiden textile industry, which are kept at the Stedelijk Museum De Lakenhal, and the window he designed for the St. John's Church in Gouda, portraying the Liberation of Leiden. All these activities he combined with a governmental career as an alderman and mayor of the city , which also commissioned most of his work. Among his students were his own son Jacob van Swanenburg, who would later become Rembrandt's first master, and the painter Otto van Veen, Rubens' later master. This book, based on comprehensive archive research and study of the surviving works, attempts to provide for the first time a survey of the versatile activities of this artist.