Jacob Ritsema (1869-1943) - Landschap

\Artist: Jacob Ritsema (1869-1943)
Technique: Oil on canvas\Signature: Hand signed\Dimensions: 51_75_5_cm
Beautifully framed work by Jacob Ritsema. Painting was auctioned at AAG Amsterdam in 2006 Jacob Ritsema was the eldest son of lithographer and printer Coenraad Ritsema and Jannetje Moulijn. He grew up in an artistic environment. His sister Coba also became a painter and would later become part of the Amsterdam Joffers. The graphic artist and painter Simon Moulijn was a cousin on my mother's side. At the age of fifteen Ritsema left for Düsseldorf to study at the local art academy. Back in the Netherlands he was apprenticed to Paul Gabriël, with whom he even lived in Scheveningen for some time. Gabriel and Ritsema regularly traveled through the country to paint 'en plein air'. They painted in, among others, Kortenhoef, Heeze, Drenthe and the Veluwe. Ritsema also made a trip to Brittany. Jacob was mainly known as a landscape painter, but also painted courtyards, still lifes and flower arrangements. He worked in his own realistic style, which was strongly influenced by the Hague School. Later he also made freer works, also in watercolor. Characteristic are his powerful, broad, loosely painted brushstrokes. His landscapes are especially praised for the blending of his greens. Shortly after 1900, Ritsema opened a studio in Haarlem, where he worked for some time with his sister Coba. In 1911 he married the baker's daughter Alijda van den Broeck from Kortenhoef, making him brother-in-law of the Rotterdam painter August Willem van Voorden, who was married to Alijda's sister Geertje. After the marriage, the couple moved to The Hague, to return to Haarlem in 1922. Ritsema was often working in the surroundings of Kortenhoef and Nunspeet. In 1938 he settled with his family in Laren, where Alijda died the same year. Jacob himself died suddenly at the age of 74 in 1943, when he returned from painting outdoors. Ritsema was a member of the Sint Lucas Association, Arti et Amicitiae, Pulchri Studio, The Hague Art Circle and the Gooische Schildersvereniging. He was awarded the Willink van Collen Prize in 1911 and the Sint Lucas Prize in 1928. Queen Wilhelmina bought two of his works, including one from his strikingly modernist series of Rain Showers. His work can be seen in the Municipal Museum of The Hague and the Municipal Museum Amsterdam. Gallery