by Paul Huys Janssen

In 1913 George Cuny, an archivist in Gdansk, published all the information he had collected on the painter Laurence Neter as part of his research on artists who had worked in the city.[1] Neter was actually from the town of Elblag, some 50 kilometers from Gdansk, and must have been born there around 1600/1604. Cuny deduced this approximate year of birth from the fact that a certain "Lorens Neter" was admitted to the "classis germanica inferior" of Elblag's gymnasium on 28 September 1612.[2]

Beyond this very little is known about Neter's youth or family background. He received his artistic training in Gdansk from the Southern Netherlandish painter Isaac van den Blocke (d. 1626), who was already active there in 1589.[3] Following this formative period Neter set out for the Netherlands.

1. Laurence Neter, Lute Player, signed and dated "Laurence Neter A: 1631 ff". Panel (oval), 35.5 x 26.5 cm. Netherlands, private collection


2. Dirck Hals, Interior with Cavaliers, signed "DHals 1627". Panel, 34.7 x 34.3 cm. Berlin, Staatliche Museen Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Gemäldegalerie, inv. no. 816A

The ties between Gdansk and the Low Countries were very close in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. It was through this old Hanseatic harbor town, for instance, that the Netherlands received much of its grain. In both Gdansk and Elblag, and also along the banks of the river Wisla (Vistula) in present-day Poland, a great many Dutch and Flemish farmers had settled between 1560 and 1610 - Mennonites for the most part who had emigrated for religious reasons.[4] Laurence Neter may have belonged or been related to one of these families.[5] The presence of such a large Netherlandish colony and its strong economic ties with the homeland sparked intense cultural exchange.[6] Painters such as Van den Blocke, Hans Vredeman de Vries and, later in the seventeenth century, Pieter Soutman, Willem Hondius and Pieter Danckertsz. de Rij found gainful employment for longer or shorter periods in either Gdansk or one of the nearby Prussian or Polish cities.[7] Their presence prompted young, local artists to tour the Low Countries. In the seventeenth century it was more or less customary for German painters to go abroad to gain experience or to finish their training; those living in the northern part of Germany usually went to the Netherlands, while those from the south went to Italy.[8] The distance involved was of course an important consideration, but religious, social and cultural factors also played a part.[9 ] The painter Johann Liss, born near Lübeck in what was then known as the "Oldenburger Land," was already living in Haarlem in about 1615/1616.[10] Another early visitor to the Low Countries was the Gdansk copperplate engraver Aegidius Dickmann, who was also working in Haarlem in 1624.[11] Other Northern German and Polish painters who went to the Netherlands in the course of the seventeenth century include Nicolaes Knupfer from Leipzig, Wolfgang Heimbach from Ovelgönne near Bremen, and Simon Petrus Tilman from Lemgo in Westphalia.[12]

3. Laurence Neter, Lady and Gentleman, signed "Laurence Neter f 1634". Panel, 28 x 24.5 cm. Whereabouts unknown

Laurence Neter's teacher, Isaac van den Blocke, presumably advised him to study and work in the Netherlands. Unfortunately we do not know when he arrived or where he lived. He may have spent some time in Middelburg, however, for in 1676 no fewer than four of his paintings were recorded in the estate of the painter and art dealer Laurens Bernards of that city.[13] Later still, in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, paintings by Neter changed hands in Middelburg; could these have been the same works as those mentioned in the inventory of 1676?[14] In 1639, at any event, Neter was back in Gdansk.[15] He may have remained in that city or returned to Elblag; he was still active in 1649, yet the year of his death is unknown.[16]