Govert Flinck

Born in Kleve in 1615, Govert Flinck initially defied his father's wishes for him to be a silk mercer, secretly cultivating a passion for art. This led him to Leeuwarden, where he boarded with Lambert Jacobszoon and befriended fellow aspiring artist Jacob Backer. Their shared ambition was further fueled by proximity to the Uylenburgh family, whose connections eventually led Flinck to Amsterdam and into the esteemed studio of Rembrandt. For over a decade, from 1636 to 1648, F…