Jan Mankes

Jan Mankes (1889–1920) was born in Meppel, The Netherlands. His family moved to Delft in 1903. In that period, he worked as an apprentice with the glass painter J.L. Schouten and followed evening classes at the Academy of Visual Arts in The Hague. From 1909 until 1915 Mankes lived with his parents in Het Meer, a suburb situated between Heerenveen and the little villages of Benedenknijpe and Bovenknijpe. This is where he developed his love for nature and made many of his best works. In 1913 he became acquainted with Anne Zernike, a theologian and the first woman preacher in the Netherlands. In 1915 he married her, after which they lived in The Hague for a while. In 1916 they moved to Eerbeek in the province of Gelderland, because they thought that those wooded surroundings would benefit Mankes, who was already suffering from tuberculosis. In 1918 their son Beint was born. Mankes was mostly bedridden; whenever he was feeling a bit better, he would work without interruption. In 1920 he died of his illness, when he was 30 years old. Mankes left an oeuvre of about 150 small paintings, 100 drawings and 50 prints. Nature is the most important subject in more than half of his oeuvre. Apart from that he made self-portraits, portraits (especially of his father, his mother, and his wife), still life studies, landscapes, and interiors. Already during his life Mankes exhibited many times and was much appreciated. The tranquillity in his work is caused by balanced compositions and modest use of colour, as well as an almost invisible brush stroke.