Hans Speckaert

Hans Speckaert ( – ) was a Flemish Renaissance painter who was active in Italy. He is known for his portraits, history paintings and his many drawings. The artist was one of the earliest representatives of Northern Mannerism. His fluid and elegant drawing style exerted an important influence on contemporary Northern artists.

Life Details about the life of the artist are scarce. According to the early Flemish painter and artist biographer Karel van Mander Speckaert was the son of an embroiderer in Brussels and a friend of the painter Aert Mijtens. He may have received his training in the Brussels workshop of Pieter de Kempeneer who was known as Pedro Campaña (1503-1580).

He travelled to Italy at an unknown date and is believed to have arrived in Rome sometime in 1566.

After a long period in Rome, Speckaert attempted to return to the Netherlands and got as far as Florence, but feeling unwell, he turned back to Rome, where he died. He made designs for prints that were executed by Cornelis Cort en Aegidius Sadeler and form the basis for further attributions. His oeuvre is not yet clearly defined, since the attribution of drawings is hampered by the fact that the artist's work was widely imitated. The work of Jacopo Bertoja, which was close to that of Parmigianino, was influential on his style.

Speckaert's fluid and elegant drawing style exerted an important influence on his Northern contemporaries, as is witnessed, in particular, in the drawings of Bartholomeus Spranger, Jan Soens, Hans von Aachen, Joseph Heintz the Elder and Karel van Mander. This was made possible because Speckaert's friend Anthonie van Santvoort, who managed his estate after his death and inherited his drawings via Cornelis Cort, who died a year after Speckaert, opened his house to artists who visited Rome so that they could study Speckaert's drawings.

Speckaert's designs were used as models for prints by Aegidius Sadeler, Cornelis Cort, Pedro Perret and Jan Harmensz. Muller.