Karel van Mander

Karel van Mander (1548-1606)

Karel van Mander was born in 1548 in the Flemish town of Meulebeke. After finishing Latin school he became a painter's apprentice. The young Van Mander spent most of his student days in Rome and afterwards worked at the Prague court. In 1583 he returned to Haarlem, where he settled down. He turned his workshop into an academy, where, following the custom in Italian studios, nudes were drawn. This had never been done before in the Netherlands. Karel van Mander had many pupils, among whom his son, Karel van Mander II, and Frans Hals.