Willem Koekkoek
Willem Koekkoek (Willem Kukkuk) (Amsterdam, January 13, 1839 - Nieuwer-Amstel (Amstelveen), January 29, 1895) is a Dutch artist, representative of the third generation of the Kukkuk dynasty of artists. He was the son of the marine painter Hermanus Kukkuk (1815-1882), grandson of Johannes Hermanus Kukkuk (1778-1851), nephew of Barend Cornelis Kukkuk (1803-1862) and Marinus Adrianus Kukkuk Sr. (1807-1868), and Hermanus Kukkuk (1836) -1909), Johannes Hermanus Barend Kukkuk (1840-1912) and Hendrik Barend Kukkuk (1849-1909) were his brothers.
Willem Kukkuk was born in Amsterdam on January 13, 1839, studied painting with his father, the marine painter Hermanus Kukkuk, but, unlike the rest of the family, subsequently painted mainly urban scenes. Perhaps this choice is due to the fact that at first Willem worked very successfully as an architect.
Living in Amsterdam, in his youth, Willem, like many of his contemporaries, traveled a lot in search of orders, in 1878 he lived in The Hague and later in Utrecht. It was only when he moved to The Hague in 1878 that he continued the family tradition, fully devoting himself to painting. The influence of his studies in architecture is evident in his painting. He specializes in Dutch cityscapes. Willem painted imaginary street scenes and specific cities such as Gouda, Enkhuizen, Breda and Bruges, his paintings combine historical reconstruction and fantasy, so they were especially popular abroad, because they showed an idyllic image of the Netherlands.
His works can be found in the National Gallery of London, the Historical Museum in Amsterdam, in the museums of The Hague, Cleves, in the Museum of Fine Arts in Montreal.
