Jürgen Ovens

Jürgen Ovens
Jürgen Ovens, Detail (Hermitage)
Born	1623 Tönning
Died	9 December 1678 Friedrichstadt
Nationality	Danish
Education	Under Rembrandt
Known for	Painting
Notable work	Blue Madonna in Schleswig Cathedral
Movement	Baroque

Jürgen Ovens (1623 – 9 December 1678), also known as Georg, or Jurriaen Ovens whilst in the Netherlands, was a portrait painter and art-dealer from North Frisia and, according to Arnold Houbraken, a pupil of Rembrandt. He is best known for his painting in the city hall of Amsterdam and paintings for the Dukes of Holstein-Gottorp for whom he worked for more than 30 years, also as an art dealer.

Ovens was born and grew up in Tönning, Duchy of Schleswig, the son of Frisian farmer and alderman Ove Broders and Agneta Ovens (also called Broders). Although that duchy was formally a Danish fief, Ovens is often counted among German painters. Since 1640 he worked for Hendrick van Uylenburgh with Govaert Flinck in the Sint Antoniesbreestraat. It has been suggested he went to Italy between 1643 and 1649, but there is no evidence. Until 1651, he lived in Amsterdam, then from May 1651 he went back to Schleswig-Holstein, claimed by Frederick III, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp. In 1652 he married Maria Jens Martens (daughter of a rich Tönning alderman) in Friedrichstadt. His father-in-law gave him 60,000 Thaler, but demanded that he settle down nearby.

In 1654 Ovens spent a few weeks in to paint the marriage between Charles X Gustav and Hedwig Eleonora of Holstein-Gottorp. In 1655 Gerrit van Uylenburgh came to visit him. In 1657 Ovens travelled to Amsterdam because of a war between the Swedish and the Danish. He cooperated with Govert Flinck. Ovens became a citizen of Amsterdam in order to start a business or to get a job, as the rules of guilds were very strict. He send statues by Artus Quellinus the Elder to Gottorf.