(b Haarlem, 1562; d Haarlem, 11 Nov 1638). Dutch painter and draughtsman. He came from a wealthy family. During the Spanish siege and occupation of Haarlem (1572–7), his parents moved elsewhere, leaving their son and large house in the protection of the painter Pieter Pietersz. (1540/41–1603), who became Cornelis’s teacher. In 1579 Cornelis travelled to France by sea, but the journey terminated at Rouen because of an outbreak of plague. He then became a pupil of Gillis Congnet in Antwerp, with whom he stayed for one year. In 1580–81 he returned permanently to Haarlem, and in 1583 he received his first official commission from the city, a militia company portrait, the Banquet of the Haarlem Civic Guard (Haarlem, Frans Halsmus.). Around 1584 he befriended Hendrick Goltzius and Karel van Mander, with whom he is said to have established a kind of academy (see MANDER, VAN, (1) and HAARLEM, §2), which became known as the Haarlem Academy. Cornelis later became city painter of Haarlem and received numerous commissions from the town corporation. He worked for the Commanders of the Order of St John and also for the Heilige Geesthuis. He married Maritgen Arentsdr Deyman (d 1606), the daughter of a burgomaster, some time before 1603. In 1605 he inherited one third of his wealthy father-in-law’s estate. Cornelis also had one illegitimate daughter (b 1611), who married Pieter Jansz. Bagijn, a silversmith, and whose son was the painter Cornelis Bega. From 1626 to 1629 Cornelis Cornelisz. was a member of the Catholic Guild of St Jacob. In 1630, along with several other artists, he drew up new regulations for the Guild of St Luke, which brought to an end its essentially medieval organization and conferred a higher status on art. The surviving inventory of his estate contains valuable information about his art collection. Iconographically, Cornelis van Haarlem—as he is usually known—had a wider range than his Haarlem colleagues. Besides conventional religious and mythological subjects, he produced a few portraits as well as kitchen scenes and still-lifes.

• Cornelisz. van Haarlem, Cornelis
  • Academy, §3: The spread of the academic idea
  • Bray, de: (1) Salomon de Bray
  • Goltzius, Hendrick, §2(ii)(a): Engravings and etchings
  • Goltzius, Hendrick, §3: Cultural context and subject-matter
  • Mander, van: (1) Karel van Mander I, §1: Life
  • Muller, Jan
  • Netherlands, the, §III, 4(ii): Painting and graphic arts, c 1550–c 1680: Haarlem
  • Prints, §IV, 2: Publishers
  • Romanism
  • Saenredam: (1) Jan Saenredam
  • collections
    • Bega, Cornelis
  • groups and movements
    • Haarlem, §2(ii): Artistic community
  • patrons and collectors
    • Brukenthal, Samuel
  • pupils
    • Pietersz., Gerrit
  • teachers
    • Congnet , Gillis
  • works
    • Haarlem, §1: History and urban development