Czére Andrea szerk.: A Szépművészeti Múzeum közleményei 104. (Budapest, 2006)

ZOLTÁN KOVÁCS: "The Witty Pieter Quast": The Works of an Amsterdam Master in Hungary Then and Now

"THE WITTY PIETER QUAST" THE WORKS OF AN AMSTERDAM MASTER IN HUNGARY THEN AND NOW ZOLTÁN KOVÁCS Pieter Quast was a multifaceted and prolific painter of the first half of the seventeenth century in Amsterdam, working in the shadow of the outstanding masters of the era. The art historical research has accordingly deigned relatively meagre attention to the art of the painter deemed a minor master and to the place he filled in the development of Dutch art.' Despite his brief life, however, the art of the extraordinarily productive Quast represents an undeniably fascinating and noteworthy patch on the palette of seventeenth century genre and portrait painting. As Jan Briels wrote of him, due to his playful, teasing humour, certainly even his contemporaries referred to him as the "witty Pieter Quast".

2 In the following, we will venture to render the picture conceived of him more tinged, especially with the presentation of his works in Hungary and those formerly held in Hungarian collections.

3 On the basis of written sources, we can conclude that Pieter Quast was born in Amsterdam about 1606, as son of Jan Quast from Antwerp. His grandfather, Andries Quast, had moved at about 1589 with his family to Amsterdam; nevertheless, all of his children, including Jan, were born in Antwerp. On 26 June 1632, Pieter married Annetje Splinters of The Hague, with whom he lived then in The I Iague from 1634 onwards. It was here that he joined the Saint Luke's Guild in the same year. Pieter was twenty-six years old at the time of his marriage, and two days prior, an inventory was made of the pictures in his house.

4 Among the paintings, we find depictions of religious, classical and mythological themes, as well as genre paintings. The family returned to Amsterdam in 1643, where they rented a house in the Kalverstraat. A few years on, however, they were unable to pay the rent, and so they were forced to move to a house in a less expensive district (Nes). According to an official report of 17 May 1646, Quast complained to the notary about the deplorable condition of this latter house, named "the White Star"