Art Gallery

Bray, Jan de (1627 - 1697), Dutch painter, son of Salomon and brother of Joseph. Even before the death of Verspronck in 1662 and the octogenarian Frans Hals in 1666, Jan de Bray became the leading portraitist in Haarlem. In the mid-sixties he received four commissions for life-size collective portraits of governors from the city's charitable institutions. Except for his first efforts in the early fifties, little in his oeuvre recalls the old master, Frans Hals. He often adopted the colourful palette and smooth, limpid manner of van der Helst, qualities evident in his historiated portraits. His contact with Haarlem's classicizing artists, particularly his father Salomon, who was his teacher, made assimilation of these aspects of van der Helst popular style an easy step.

Jan de Bray made history paintings as well. The various subjects he treated make him difficult to categorize.

From: web gallery of art