ABSTRACT
While there were thousands of painters active in the Northern Netherlands in the seventeenth century, not all of them trained pupils and only a few ran workshops with apprentices and assistants. To become a painter, a boy was apprenticed to a master painter; his training could begin already at the age of twelve. Usually he was accepted on probation for a short time, before he could qualify as a real apprentice. The training lasted at least two years and often much longer, up to seven years. After learning the fundamentals of painting during the first years, a pupil became a “disciple;” he now had to learn to make accurate copies after his master to be sold in the master’s shop. 1 For the last year, or so, he was considered a “free guest” (vrije gast), or “working mate” (werkgezel). At this stage, he was truly productive in the studio and worked in the master’s, or his own style, but had not yet the right to sell paintings under his own name. Afterwards, he could become an independent master, or decide to continue in the workshop; the latter option provided him with a salary without the risks attendant in running a studio of his own. 2 This may well explain the existence of so many copies, different versions of the same composition, and imitations in the style of various masters, which frustrate our attempts to attribute such works to specific hands.
