Cornelis Bavelaar

 

Cornelis Bavelaar senior (1747 - 25 February 1830) was born in Leiden as the youngest son of the gardener Pieter Kockedee and his wife Stijntje. His parents died on 30.04.1764. As an orphan he was apprenticed to the sculptor Gijsbert Krul. Four years later he was apprenticed again to Nicolaas Lazarie, another sculptor.

Cornelis Bavelaar senior (de Oude) was a sculptor who created small works of art. Small showcases, dioramas with representations of ships, landscapes and domestic events carved out of wood and bone. These small works of art were called bavelaartjes. The background of the paintings is always blue. His son Cornelis (1777-1831), a carpenter and art worker, also made such bavelaartjes. Cornelis de Young, John Francis was the third and last of the family to make these boxes.

The illustration shows two examples of tea caddy boxes with a total of four medallions with depictions worked into the body. The Bavelaars from Leiden in the Netherlands are a special case. On the basis of individual criteria, some examples of the Bavelaars can be assigned to the microtechnical works, since some early works were made of bone or wood.