Willy Martens

Born in the Dutch East Indies as the son of a Dutch merchant, Willy Martens was trained at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam from 1876 to 1880 and at the Académie Cormon in Paris in 1881. He remained in Paris and Nanterre for 11 years, during which time he was made a Knight of the Legion of Honor.

Martens painted, drew, and lithographed genre pieces, portraits, and landscapes, as well as peasant interiors and rural outdoor scenes in the style of the Laren School. From 1911, he was deputy director, and from 1915-1924 director of the Rijksmuseum Hendrik Willem Mesdag in Den Haag. In The Netherlands, he lived and worked in Amsterdam, Den Haag, Nunspeet, Scheveningen, and Ermelo. He was a member and chairman of the artists’ association Pulchri Studio in Den Haag and a member of Arti et Amicitiae in Amsterdam.