Pieter van Laer

Pieter Bodding van Laer (christened 14 December 1599, in Haarlem – 1641 or later) was a Dutch painter and printmaker. He was active in Rome for over a decade and was known for genre scenes, animal paintings and landscapes placed in the environs of Rome.

Pieter van Laer was an active member of the association of Flemish and Dutch artists in Rome known as the Bentvueghels. His nickname in this group ("bent name") was Il Bamboccio. The style of genre painting he introduced was followed by other Northern and Italian painters. These followers became known as the Bamboccianti and a painting in this style as a Bambocciata (plural: Bambocciate).

Life Pieter van Laer was born in Haarlem as the second child of Jacob Claesz. Boddingh of Haarlem and Magdalena Heyns of Antwerp. He adopted the surname van Laer only later in life. This surname was probably taken from his brother's godfather. He came from a well to do family and his parents operated a private school in Haarlem started by Magdalena's father, the well-known writer and publisher Peeter Heyns, after whom Pieter van Laer was named.

His older brother was Roedolff van Laer, who also became a painter and was known as Roeland van Laer and Orlando van Laer. His youngest brother Nicolaes Bodding became known later in life as Nicolaes Boddingius and was a prominent schoolmaster and minister. He also had two sisters called Barbara and Anthoynetta

Pieter van Laer was possibly a pupil of Esaias van de Velde in Haarlem. His early work shows the influence of this painter as is evidenced by a drawing signed Pieter Bodink (formerly in the collection of A. Welcker), which is close to van de Velde's style. Pieter van Laer was also known for his pointed moustache. Van Laer shared a home in the Via Margutta with Jean Ducamps, whose pupil he is said to have been according to certain art historians. However, such apprenticeship is unlikely since the two artists had approximately the same age. He was also a close friend of Joachim von Sandrart in Rome. The initial Bamboccianti included Jan Miel, Andries and Jan Both, Karel Dujardin, Johannes Lingelbach and the Italian Michelangelo Cerquozzi. The Frenchman Sébastien Bourdon was also associated with this group during his early career. Other Bamboccianti include Michiel Sweerts, Thomas Wijck, Dirck Helmbreker, Jan Asselyn, Anton Goubau, Willem Reuter, Jacob van Staverden and Johan Filip Lemke.

Pieter van Laer had a successful career in Rome. He returned to the Netherlands 1639. Here he lived chiefly in Amsterdam and later in Haarlem with his younger brother Nicolaes.

Work Pieter van Laer is mainly known for his genre scenes set in Italianate landscapes as well as for his landscapes and animal scenes. He also painted some battle scenes. He further engraved a number of plates of animals. He was one of the first artists to develop the painting of cattle as a specialist genre. He left one painting with a religious theme, the Annunciation to the shepherds (Museum Bredius, The Hague). This composition is also van Laer's earliest surviving cattle painting. His paintings were typically of a small format.

The influence of a long stay in Rome is seen in his treatment of landscape and backgrounds. One of his important contributions is the introduction to Roman painting of new subjects derived from Flemish and Dutch genre paintings including according to a contemporary source, "rogues, cheats, pickpockets, bands of drunks and gluttons, scabby tobacconists, barbers, and other 'sordid' subjects."

Pieter van Laer was an accomplished printmaker and he produced two series of prints of animals. One series of 8 plates of domestic animals published in 1636 in Rome under the title Various animals was dedicated to Don Ferdinando Afan de Ribera, the Spanish Viceroy in Naples. This series of engravings had an important influence on the Dutch animal painter Paulus Potter, in particular the way in which van Laer was able to place figures, animals, buildings and trees in a coherent pictorial space. A second set of 6 plates was entitled Horses and depicts the bleak lot of horses belonging to poor peasants.