Abraham de Verwer is assumed to have been born in Haarlem, where he was recorded as a cabinet-maker in 1607 (for Frederik Hendrik, Prince of Orange (1584-1647), the same year when he married Barbara van Sillevoirt (1586-1658). The couple had two children, Justus de Verwer (1625/26-1689) and Catharina Dusart-de Verwer. Abraham, mainly known as a marine painter and draughtsman was mentioned as a painter for the first time in 1614, shortly prior to when he had moved to Amsterdam, probably in 1617, though he may have been active as a painter already since 1610. It remains unknown if and with whom he had an apprenticeship. He travelled to Paris and the Northern part of France between 1637 and 1639, though Amsterdam remained his home-base.
Several drawings with views on Le Palais des Tuileries vu du Jardin des Tuileries, Le Pont-Neuf à Paris and Calais vu du sud preserved at Fondation Custodia, Paris (Coll. F. Lugt), Le château de Vincennes at the Rijksprentenkabinet, Amsterdam and La ruine du château de Bicêtre, at the National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburough. According to a letter by De Verwer to Constantijn Huijgens of 19 April 1639 he was going to be in The Hague the next Wednesday, to offer Frederik Hendrik two paintings with different view of the Louvre in Paris. In 1641 he was back in Amsterdam where he lived in the Prinsengracht and later in the Warmoesstraat, where he died in 1650.
Signed and dated drawings of imaginary landscapes by de Verwer have been recorded in the years 1636 and 1637. As the drawing is signed with Verwer inv(entor), this recently discovered drawing most probably is a fantasy landscape without topographical accuracy or traceability. The drawing executed in de Verwer's typical colorite, with soft though prominent tones of blue, green, red and yellow.
[1] Stijn Alsteens, Hans Buijs, Paysages de France : dessinés par Lambert Doomer et les artistes hollandais et flamands des XVIe et XVIIe siècles.
Fondation Custodia, 2008. p.247-256
