Jan Verkade (1868-1946)
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Jan Verkade was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter, associated with Les Nabis and the Pont Aven School in France. Verkade was born in Naandam, where he spent his childhood years before moving to Amsterdam to study at the art academy, Academie voor Beeldende Kunsten. Verkade lived in Amsterdam for less than three years before relocating to Paris in 1891. It was in Paris that Verkade met artists such as Paul Gauguin, Maurice Denis, Meijer de Haan and Paul Sérusier who formed the painting group, “Les Nabis”.
By 1892 Verkade’s heightened interest in religion led him to convert to Catholicism. Verkade moved to Germany, where he was ordained at the Abbey of Beuron in 1902. Verkade was instrumental in painting murals and decorating the Abbey as well as a Monastery in Monte Cassino.
Verkade’s art was greatly influenced by Byzantine art and Christian symbolism and the supernatural art movements in the Black Forest region of Germany. For many years Verkade’s religious affiliations separated him from the other Nabis and artists in Pont Aven. Verkade became involved in the School of Sacred Art led by Didier Lenz in Beuron.
Despite Verkade’s tendencies to verge down a supernatural path, the Nabis continued to visit Verkade in Monte Cassino or on vacation in Prague. It was in Monte Cassino that Verkade re-established his relationship with nature, and started exhibiting more with the Nabis and showed with the fauves at the Salon des Independants.
In 1908 Verkade spent several months painting alongside Séruiser in Munich, sharing painting techniques and methods.
Verkade is an important and unusual member of the Pont Aven School. While Verkade was closely associated with les Nabis, he was also devoted to sacred art and spent much of his life in the Catholic Church. Verkade’s paintings are now in major collections throughout Europe and the United States. Do you think you own a painting by Jan Verkade? Contact us. We are the experts on Jan Verkade.