BONAVENTURA PEETERS

Painter, draughtsman, etcher, and poet Bonaventura Peeters was born in Antwerp in 1614. He became a free master of Antwerp in 1634 at the Guild of St. Luke. Not much is known about his training; some believe he studied with sea painter Andries van Eertvelt because they had similar styles. As a naval painter, Peeters took long sea voyages, some as far as Turkey. Most of his family members were also artists. Peeters shared an Antwerp studio with his brother Gillis, a landscape painter. In 1639, the pair received a commission from the municipal authorities in Antwerp to depict the Siege of Calloo. Later, he moved to Hoboken, where he collaborated with his sister Catharina and brother Jan, both naval painters. He died in Hoboken in 1652. As a Flemish sea painter Peeters is noteworthy; his seascapes are generally associated with the Dutch Golden Age. He is known for his depictions of shipwrecks and rough seas, but also painted calmer coastal views. His paintings hang at the National Gallery, London; the National Gallery of Armenia, Jerevan; the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, UK; the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Courtauld Institute of Art, London.