{{short description|Dutch painter (1627–1703)}}
thumb|290px|''De Grashaven''
'''Matthias Withoos''' (1627–1703), also known as '''Calzetta Bianca''' and '''Calzetti''', was a Dutch painter of still lifes and city scenes, best known for the details of insects, reptiles and undergrowth in the foreground of his pictures.<ref name="slive">Seymour Slive, ''Dutch Painting 1600-1800'', Yale University Press Pelican history of Art, New Haven, Conn: Yale University Press, 1995, p. 290. {{ISBN|0-300-06418-7}}.</ref><ref name="dijk">H.-G. Dijk-Koekoek, "Withoos [Calzetti; Galzetta Bianca], Matthias [Matteo]," ''Grove Art Online''. Oxford University Press, [October 29, 2007].</ref>
==Life== Withoos was born in Amersfoort. He studied under Jacob van Campen, at his painters' school just outside the city at his country house, and then with Otto Marseus van Schrieck. When he was 21, Withoos made a trip to Rome with van Schrieck, and Willem van Aelst. In Rome they joined the group of northern artists known as the "Bentvueghels" ("Birds of a feather"), and Withoos went by the alias "Calzetta Bianca" ("White Hose") — a translation of his name into Italian. Withoos' work caught the eye of the cardinal Leopoldo de Medici, who commissioned various paintings from him. thumb|290px|''Landscape with birds and flowers in the underbrush of a wood''' In 1653, the artist returned to Amersfoort.<ref name="slive"/> When French troops occupied Amersfoort in the "Disastrous Year" of 1672, Withoos fled from Amersfoort to Hoorn, where he would remain until his death in 1703. Many of Withoos' seven children also followed in his footsteps, including the botanical artist Alida Withoos.
Following the artist's career as a painter of cityscapes, his student Caspar van Wittel was instrumental in developing the genre of architecture ''vedute'' in Rome.<ref>Slive, ''Dutch Painting 1600-1800'', p. 322.</ref> Jacob van Staverden was possibly also one of his pupils.<ref>[http://explore.rkd.nl/explore/artists/74764 Biographical details of Jacob van Staverden] at the Netherlands Institute for Art History {{in lang|nl}}</ref>
==Works== Still life paintings by Withoos, like those of his teacher Van Schrieck, are notable for their close-ups of dark and mysterious wild plants and undergrowth inhabited by insects, reptiles and other creatures from the natural world.<ref name="slive" /> These paintings, many of which have a vanitas motif,<ref name="dijk" /> were popular with collectors of cabinet paintings.<ref name="slive" />
Additionally, he painted numerous large cityscapes, such as the ''View of the city of Amersfoort'' acquired in 2001 by the Museum Flehite in Amersfoort. This work of a size of 2.5 x 4 m was the largest city view in the Netherlands. Two versions of "De Grashaven" were in the collection of the Westfries Museum in Hoorn until they were stolen at the end of 2005.
==References== <references />
==External links== * {{Commons-inline}} {{Authority control (arts)}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Withoos, Matthias}} Category:1627 births Category:1703 deaths Category:Dutch Golden Age painters Category:Dutch male painters Category:Dutch still life painters Category:Cityscape artists Category:People from Amersfoort Category:Members of the Bentvueghels