Abraham Diepraam

Life and career

According to Houbraken, he first learned to paint from the father of Dirk Stoop, who had been a good glasspainter, and then he became a pupil of Hendrik Martenszoon Sorgh. After a trip through France he returned to the Netherlands and became a pupil of Adriaen Brouwer, whose style he copied the rest of his life. He joined the Guild of St. Luke in Dordrecht in 1648.

Houbraken claimed he made his acquaintance in 1674. Perhaps Houbraken met some drunk claiming to be Diepraam himself, and who tried to sell Diepraam paintings after his death in 1674. This would explain why Houbraken formed his bad opinion, since like many of his contemporaries, Diepraam fell on hard times when the economic downturn spoiled the market.

According to the RKD his pupil was Matthijs Wulfraet. His paintings were quite popular, and are generally small interior tavern scenes with peasants drinking or smoking. Houbraken was much more complimentary over Diepraam in his biography of his pupil Wulfraet, claiming his works sold well in Arnhem and he was a good teacher for the young boy.

References

References

1. {{in lang. nl [http://www.dbnl.org/tekst/houb005groo01_01/houb005groo01_01_0397.htm Mathys Wulfraat Biography] in ''De groote schouburgh der Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen'' (1718) by [[Arnold Houbraken]], courtesy of the [[Digital library for Dutch literature]]
2. nl [http://www.dbnl.org/tekst/houb005groo01_01/houb005groo01_01_0395.htm Abraham Diepraam biography] in ''De groote schouburgh der Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen'' (1718) by [[Arnold Houbraken]], courtesy of the [[Digital library for Dutch literature]]
3. [https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/22691 Abraham Diepraam] in the [[RKD]]