Bloemart, Abraham

, painter of landscape, cattle, history, and portrait, was born at Gorcum in. 1564, according to Houbraken but according to Sandrart, whose authority seems to claim the preference, he' was born in 1567, and lived mostly at Utrecht. In his youth he applied himself diligently to design after the works of Francis Floris, and afterwards received instructions from several artists of no great repute; but the power of his own genius proved his principal director in the art of painting. He formed a manner peculiar to himself, making nature his model for many of the objects he painted, particularly his cattle, in which he excelled. He died in 1647. He left four sons, two of them, Henry and Adrian, were artists of considerable merit, but inferior to the youngest, the subject of the following article. ²