Hans Bol

[1] He is known for his landscapes, allegorical and biblical scenes, and genre paintings executed in a late Northern Mannerist style.

After a successful career in Flanders, he left his home country for the Dutch Republic during the Siege of Antwerp.

His prints after his own designs as well as those of Flemish masters such as Pieter Brueghel the Elder contributed to the spread of their themes in the Northern Netherlands.

[4] After the fall of Calvinist Mechelen to the Spanish in 1572, he left his hometown for Antwerp where he became a master in the local Guild of Saint Luke in 1574.

[4] His pupils included his stepson Frans Boels (who was the son of Hans Bol's wife with her first husband), Joris Hoefnagel, Jacob Savery (I) and Rommert van Beve.

[5] Bol is mainly remembered for his landscape art but he also played an important role in the further development and spread of the visual models and themes of Pieter Bruegel the Elder.

Hans Bol achieved considerable success in this typical Mechelen specialty, which led to his designs becoming widely copied and even sold under his name.

His earliest known drawing depicting a Landscape with trees and a watermill (signed and dated 1557, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen) shows the influence of Pieter Bruegel the Elder.

In his approach to landscape art Bol was influenced by the work of his contemporary Pieter Bruegel the Elder.

That Bol was approached by Hieronymus Cock to make designs for Autumn and Winter is proof of the high esteem in which he was held by 1570.

[4] Another set of drawings of the Twelve Months dated 1584-1585 was recently rediscovered and includes the design for the frontispiece for the later print publication (Auctioned at Christie's on 16 July 2014 and now in the collection of the King Baudouin Foundation in Brussels).

The book also contained a set of preparatory drawings for the Emblemata Evangelica: a series of prints designed by Hans Bol, engraved by Adriaen Collaert and published by Johannes Sadeler.