Station: [12] Room 7 – The Koekkoek family of painters

The Koekkoek family of painters was blessed with talent. We have already met the most gifted son, Barend Cornelis, as well as his younger brother Marinus Adrianus. 

In the next rooms, we will meet more members of the family. Over several generations, fathers passed on their art to their sons. One of the Koekkoek offspring opened an art dealership in London. From there, the paintings of the family of painters were distributed not only in the Netherlands and England, but also on the world market. 

We are now in the former parental bedroom of the house.

A family tree showing the artists in the family can be found in the display case on the entrance wall.

Willem Koekkoek, the nephew of our famous landscape painter, made a name for himself as a painter of Dutch cities. Several of his paintings can be seen here. His paintings were very popular in the nineteenth century, as people began to appreciate architectural heritage and the preservation of historical monuments became more important. They depict historical buildings in great detail. Willem combined these to create imaginary cities.

His cousin Hendrik Pieter also emigrated to England and painted landscapes in a traditional style. We can see one of his paintings on the window side of the room. 

Hermanus Willem Koekkoek was the only painter in the family to devote himself to military themes. He was in demand as a painter of the Franco-Prussian War. He worked as a war correspondent for various London newspapers and was accredited as an artist at the English royal court.

A compilation of the biographies of the individual artists in the family can be found on our website.