Ludolf Backhuysen (1630–1708),

• Was a was a German-born Dutch painter, draughtsman, calligrapher and printmaker.
• He was the leading Dutch painter of maritime subjects after Willem van de Velde the Elder and Younger left for England in 1672.
• He was born in Emden, East Frisia.
• Ludolf came to Amsterdam in about 1650.
• Backhuysen was working as a merchant's clerk and a calligrapher.
• He discovered so strong a genius for painting that he relinquished the business and devoted himself to art from the late 1650s, initially in pen drawings.
• He studied first under Allart van Everdingen and then under Hendrik Dubbels. 
• His compositions, which are numerous, are nearly all variations of one subject, the sea, and in a style peculiarly his own, marked by intense realism or faithful imitation of nature.

• During his life Bakhuizen was visited by Cosimo III de' Medici, Peter the Great and also worked for various German princes.

• In 1699 he opened a gallery on the top floor of the famous Amsterdam townhall.

• After a visit to England he died in Amsterdam on 17 November 1708.

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