Salomon de Bray
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Salomon de Bray (1597 - 11 May 1664) was a Dutch Golden Age
architect and painter.
De Bray was born in Amsterdam,
but established himself in Haarlem before 1617, where he is
registered as being a member of the schutterij that year in the St.
Adrian's cloveniers. He probably followed draftsmanship and painting
lessons in the small academy started by Karel van Mander, Hendrick
Goltzius and Cornelis van Haarlem, and where he married in 1625. He
is registered as a pupil of Goltzius and Cornelis van Haarlem, but
he probably started his training in Amsterdam with Jan Pynas,
Nicolaes Moeyaert and Pieter Lastman. He painted history
paintings, portraits and landscapes. As a Catholic he probably also
made altar pieces for the Haarlem underground Catholic churches
known as mission stations, or staties. He was a poet and member of
the Chamber of rhetoric called "De Wijngaertranken". This is
probably how he met his wife Anna, the sister of the painter Jan and
the poet Jacob Westerbaen. They married in 1625 and in 1630 he
became a member of the Haarlem Guild of St. Luke. He cooperated with
fellow Haarlem lukasguild member Jacob van Campen in the decoration
of Huis ten Bosch in The Hague. His works draw on the spirit of the
Dutch classicism beginning at that time, and are comparable with
those of Pieter de Grebber.
De Bray was also active as a
designer of silverwork, and became headman of the Guild of St. Luke
and even prepared a new charter for the guild (that was never
ratified) in 1631. One of his poems was set to music by his friend
the composer Cornelis Padbrué.
Salomon de Bray was the father of
ten children, of whom three (Dirck de Bray, Jan de Bray, and Joseph
de Bray) became notable artists. He probably died of the plague that
hit Haarlem in 1664, as he and his children Jacob, Josef, Juliana
and Margaretha all died in April and May of that year. His wife
had already died the previous year. He was buried in the
Sint-Bavokerk in Haarlem.
