DIRCK VAN BABUREN

Born in Wijk bij Duurstede near Utrecht in c. 1592/93, Baburen received his early artistic training from Paulus Moreelse in Utrecht. In 1611, he is listed for the last time as a member of the local painters’ guild. Shortly thereafter, he travelled to Italy, where a painting in Parma, signed by him in 1615 and mentioned in historic sources, is considered the earliest evidence of his stay in Italy. In Rome, he occasionally lived together with his fellow countryman David de Haen and Nicolas Régnier. The most important commissioned works are his paintings for Pietro Cussida in the Pietà Chapel in San Pietro in Montorio. Baburen returned to Utrecht around 1620/21 and died there in 1624. During the final years of his life, he increasingly painted secular motifs, such as, for example, musicians as half-length figures.