According to biographer
Arnold Houbraken, van Uylenburgh began as a landscape painter and painted rooms in the house of a wealthy man in Amsterdam. He soon saw he could earn more money dealing in art than in painting himself. Like his father he took young promising painters into his service, such as
Hendrick Fromantiou,
Jurriaen Ovens and
Gerard de Lairesse. He expanded the business internationally and sold many Italian masters and classical sculptures alongside Dutch art. The English painter
Peter Lely and king
John II Casimir of Poland both had Gerrit as their agent. In 1660 he advised the
Cornelis and his younger brother,
Andries de Graeff, one of the heads of the
States-General of the Netherlands on their lavish
Dutch Gift to
Charles II of England. In 1671 he organised the auction of
Gerrit Reynst's collection and offered thirteen paintings and some sculptures from among those which had not sold at the auction to
Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg. However, on Fromantiou's advice, Frederick accused them of being counterfeits and sent them back. Van Uylenburg then organized a counter-assessment, asking a total of 35 painters to pronounce on their authenticity, including
Jan Lievens,
Melchior de Hondecoeter,
Gerbrand van den Eeckhout,
Barend Graat and
Johannes Vermeer. Van Uylenburgh hit financial problems in 1675, as a result of the
war with France, falling art prices, and possibly due to the damage to his reputation from the Brandenburg affair. His business went bankrupt and Gerrit moved to London, where Lely exerted his influence at court and secured him the post of
Surveyor of the King’s Pictures. He died in 1679. In 2006 the
Rembrandt House Museum presented an exhibition about Hendrick and Gerrit. The exhibition was also shown at the
Dulwich Picture Gallery in
London. == References ==