Pieter Fris

Pieter Fris (1627 – 1706) was a Dutch Golden Age landscape painter.

According to Houbraken he was a painter of moralistic and fantasy pieces who joined the Bentvueghels in Rome at the young age of 17 with the nickname Welgemoed (courage) for withstanding his acceptance ceremony without flinching.

A poem was written about his courage, inspired by a ceremony in which he stood surrounded by firecrackers going off around him..[1] Houbraken mentioned that Fris was embarrassed about the art profession, though he continued to practice it in Delft in later life.

[1] The Fris Bentvueghel initiation ceremony story inspired Houbraken to close the second volume of his three volume Schouburg with a long poem of his own using all of the "Bent" nicknames he knew.

[1] He meant this poem as a tribute to all of the Bentvueghel painters through the ages, quoting his teacher Samuel van Hoogstraten and referring to the publication on ancient Roman ruins in 1709 by the Amsterdam publisher Johannes Crellius based on a set of drawings by Bonaventura van Overbeek (bentname Romulus), engraved by Matthys Pool including scenes of the Bentvueghels in action.