Andries BOTH
1612–1642, Netherlands/Italy
Also known as: AB
Andries Both was a Dutch Golden Age genre painter, one of the bamboccianti, and brother of Jan Dirksz Both.
Both was the son of a glass painter, and studied under Abraham Bloemaert. According to Joachim von Sandrart, Andries and his brother Jan cooperated on the paintings, with Jan painting the landscapes and Andries the figures, though this view has been revised in the 20th century. Andries stayed in Rouen in 1633, and he traveled on to Rome, where is documented from 1635 to 1641. He first shared a studio with a fellow painter from Utrecht, Jan van Causteren. In 1638 his brother joined him, living on the Via Vittoria in the parish of San Lorenzo in Lucina and perhaps both joining the Accademia di San Luca and the group of painters led by Pieter van Laer. In 1641 the brothers traveled back to Holland, but Andries met his death in Venice on the way, drowning in a canal as he was returning from some festivities.
His work is noted for its humorous and outrageous quality, mixed with objectivity and harsh reality, depicting the seamier side of Italian life with broad strokes. The style, known as Bambocciata, after the nickname of its originator, Pieter van Laer, known as il bamboccio, \"the toddler\" because of his physical deformities, depicted scenes of the low life, often grotesque and shocking to the aristocracy, used to a more idealized style of art.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andries_Both