Tyman Arentsz. Cracht

Tyman Arentsz Cracht alias Botterkul (between 1590 and 1600, Wormer – 1646 The Hague) was a Dutch painter who specialized in landscapes and history paintings.

Nothing is known about his training. He traveled to Rome in 1620 or 1621. He was one of the founding members of the Bentvueghels, an association of mainly Dutch and Flemish artists working in Rome. It was customary for the Bentvueghels to adopt an appealing nickname, the so-called 'bent name'. Cracht was given the bent name ‘Botterkull’ or ‘Botterkul’, which may be a reference to the Dutch sweet called ‘Boterbal’ (butter or cream ball).

His portrait appears on one of the sheets with portraits of Bentvueghels, which are now in the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam. Cracht is depicted with the following members of the Bentveughels: Joost from The Hague, Cornelis van Poelenburch, Wouter Crabeth II and Peter from Leiden. Cracht himself is referred to in the sheets as 'Tyman (Cracht) van den Emster alias Botterkull'. The expression 'van den Emster' indicates a person from the Dutch province of Drenthe. This is difficult to square with Cracht having been born in Wormer, in the province of Noord-Holland. Cracht did have a brother-in-low who lived in Wormer. Cracht was a close friend of David de Haen, another member of the Bentvueghels.

In 1626 Cracht joined the fraternity of the Collegio Teutonico. Along with the painter Cornelis Schut he worked from 13 January 1627 for Giorgio Pescatori (aka Pieter de Vischere), an Italian banker and patron of Flemish origin and painted frescoes in his villa in Frascati, the so-called 'Casino Pescatore’.

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