Louis Bernard Coclers

Louis Bernard Coclers was born in either Maastricht or Liège. He was a Southern Netherlands painter, draftsman and engraver, and was active as a dealer and art collector. He worked mainly in Liège, Maastricht, Leiden and Amsterdam.

Coclers came from an artistic family. His father, Jean-Baptiste Coclers (1696-1772), was a painter as were his siblings Phillipe Henri Coclers van Wyck and Marie-Lambertine Coclers (1761-1815). Jean-Baptiste Coclers trained his son, Louis Bernard, who – as many artists before him, including his own father – went to Italy for three years to study art. After leaving Italy, he worked mainly in the Northern Netherlands. Coclers went to Paris in 1787, and worked there for several years. Later on, he went to Amsterdam where he received commissions for paintings. He also engraved plates in the style of Dutch seventeenth century artists, most notably, Frans Hals, Adriaen van Ostade and Quirijn van Brekelenkamp.

He owned Nature morte (Still life) by the seventeenth century Dutch painter Jan van der Heyden. Coclers sold the painting on 7 August 1811 in Amsterdam to art dealer Willem Gruyter, Sr. A few years later Coclers reacquired the painting at the sale of art dealer Philippus van der Schley in 1817; it was later purchased by Adolphe Schloss. The Germans Iabeled that painting as “Schloss 93” after they seized the Schloss Collection in April 1943. Links: [about:blank https://rkd.nl/nl/explore/artists/record?query=louis+bernard+coclers&start=0] Accessed 4 June 2021.