Painter of genre scenes and occasionally of potraits.

 

De Pape was probably a pupil of Gerrit Dou in Leiden, in whose style he worked for most of his life, especially in his depictions of elderly people.

 

His father, Isaack, was, though of Flemish origin, born in Tetford, Lincolnshire; he was a successful merchant. His mother was from Leiden. 

 

Our painter was one of the founder members of the Painters' Guild of Saint Luke of Leiden in 1644; he was four times Dean (“deken”) and eight times Captain (“hoofdman”).

 

De Pape’s was a wealthy man, who frequently lent money to Rembrandt’s siblings. 

 

Still, today his paintings are rare. Some of his genre scenes have in the past mistakenly been attributed to Quiringh van Brekelenkam, to Adriaen van Gaesbeeck or to Pieter Cornelisz. van Egmondt. Our painting is fully signed, as are actually most of his works.