Esaias Boursse (1631 - 1672)

• Was a Dutch painter.
• His paintings were mainly genre works.
• He was born in Amsterdam, the youngest son of immigrants from Wallonia.
• Esaias Boursse travelled to Italy in about 1650 to study the great Renaissance examples.
• Boursse's financial position will not have been good, since in 1661 he sailed with the Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, on the ship Amersfoort.
• It travelled to Ceylon (nowadays called Sri Lanka).
• Boursse drew the inhabitants, landscapes and city views, which have been preserved in an album which can be found in the print room of the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam.
• In 1663, the painter was back in Amsterdam.
• In 1672, Boursse sailed with Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie again.
• On November 16 he died at sea, on board the ship Rhenen.
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