According to the
Netherlands Institute for Art History, he learned to draw from
Bartholomeus Breenbergh, and he influenced in his turn
Jacob van der Ulft. Both Ulft and Bisschop were born into good families and were examples of painters who practised art more for pleasure than for a living. Bisschop was a founding member of the
Confrerie Pictura and produced two books in the 1670s meant as instructional material for young artists. These were based on his own copies from classical artists, but also copies from the Rome-traveller,
Pieter Donker. One was 112 prints that was produced in the years 1668-1669 as the
Signorum Veterum Icones (Dutch title:
Afbeeldingen van antieke beelden), and the other was printed in 1671 as
Paradigmata Graphices variorum Artificum (Dutch title:
Voor-beelden der Teken-Konst van verscheyde Meesters). According to
Arnold Houbraken he was a lawyer for the Dutch court, and did a great service to the arts with his instructional drawings copied from the artists
Tintoretto,
Jacopo Bassano,
Annibale Carracci (Karats),
Paolo Veronese,
Rubens, and
Anthony van Dyck. File:Jan de Bisschop - after Pieter Donker after Raphael.JPG|
Woman with a jug, copy after a drawing by Pieter Donker, who in turn copied Raphael. ==References==