Koekkoek family
A Dutch family whose members produced painters and other artists across five generations, especially in landscape and marine art.
Last updated October 14, 2026
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Overview
The Koekkoek family was a Dutch artistic family whose members produced a substantial body of landscape, marine, military, scientific, and applied art from the early nineteenth century into the twentieth century. Eighteen painters bearing the Koekkoek name are generally associated with the family across five generations, making it one of the largest documented families of painters. The family’s artistic identity was not governed by a single company or formal institution; rather, it developed through kinship, apprenticeship, shared studios, marriages between artists, art dealing, teaching, and the transmission of styles from one generation to the next. The family’s acknowledged progenitor was Johannes Hermanus Koekkoek, born in Veere in 1778 and primarily active in Middelburg. He initially worked as a house painter and wallpaper decorator before pursuing fine art. After studying at the Middelburg academy, he returned there as a teacher. His marriage to Anna Koolwijk produced seven children, four of whom became painters. Through these children, the family’s artistic practice expanded into several branches. The most influential member was Barend Cornelis Koekkoek, Johannes Hermanus’s eldest painter son. Trained first by his father and later at the drawing academy in Middelburg and the Amsterdam academy, Barend Cornelis established himself as a leading nineteenth-century landscape painter. After settling in Kleve, Germany, he developed a highly influential romantic landscape manner later associated with Kleve Romanticism. His commercial and critical success enabled him to establish an academy in Kleve, where he taught artists including Johann Bernhard Klombeck, Fredrik Marinus Kruseman, Alexander Joseph Daiwaille, and Jacob Abels. His marriage to Elise Thérèse Daiwaille, herself a painter and daughter of his teacher Jean Augustin Daiwaille, further connected the family to Dutch artistic networks. Other second-generation members broadened the family’s range. Marinus Adriaan Koekkoek painted landscapes after working in decorative art and studying at Barend Cornelis’s academy. Hermanus Koekkoek became a major marine and river painter, initially following his father’s approach before developing a more individual style. His descendants formed one of the family’s most productive branches, with several artists active in London and the Netherlands. The third generation included landscape, marine, silhouette, and art-dealing specialists. Hermanus Koekkoek the Younger established himself in London and operated a gallery that helped promote works by himself, his father, and Barend Cornelis to English buyers. Willem Koekkoek combined architectural training with romantic city and landscape painting. Johannes Hermanus Barend Koekkoek moved toward more realistic and subdued marine subjects under the influence of the Laren and Hague schools. Hendrik Pieter Koekkoek and Barend Hendrik Koekkoek also worked professionally in the Netherlands and England, while Adèle and Maria Louise Koekkoek maintained the family’s artistic practice through still life, silhouette, and landscape work. Later generations moved beyond the family’s dominant romantic landscape tradition. Stephen Robert Koekkoek emigrated to South America and became a well-known, though troubled, painter in Argentina. Hermanus Willem Koekkoek produced detailed military scenes, illustrations, and court-related work, later returning to Dutch landscape subjects. Marinus Adrianus Koekkoek the Younger worked as a scientific draughtsman and created educational wall charts and biological illustrations. Gerardus Johannes Koekkoek concentrated on etching, lithography, woodcut, landscape, and marine art. The fifth generation included Louise Hermina Carry May Koekkoek, who worked in painting, sculpture, and applied arts, and Cornelis “Kees” Koekkoek, whose wartime propaganda work for the Dutch National Socialist Movement resulted in postwar sanctions. The family’s legacy is therefore both artistic and historically complex. Its most visible institutional memorial is the B.C. Koekkoek-Haus in Kleve, the former residence of Barend Cornelis Koekkoek, which has housed a museum devoted to the family and related art since 1960.
History
The artistic lineage began with Johannes Hermanus Koekkoek, born at Veere in 1778 and active mainly in Middelburg. His early employment as a house painter and wallpaper worker preceded formal artistic study, after which he became a fine-art painter and teacher. His marriage to Anna Koolwijk created the first family generation from which four painter-children emerged: Barend Cornelis, Marinus Adriaan, Johannes, and Hermanus. Barend Cornelis Koekkoek became the family’s central figure. After study in Middelburg and Amsterdam, he moved to Kleve, where his idealized but carefully observed landscapes established the style later called Kleve Romanticism. His academy transmitted this approach to younger artists and helped make Kleve an important artistic center. His marriage to Elise Thérèse Daiwaille connected him to another artistic family. Barend Cornelis’s success also gave later relatives a professional model through teaching, exhibition, collecting, and art dealing. Marinus Adriaan Koekkoek followed a related landscape tradition after experience as a decorative painter and study at his brother’s Kleve academy. His son Hendrik Pieter later developed a finer and more realistic approach. Hermanus Koekkoek, the youngest painter son of Johannes Hermanus, specialized in marine and river subjects and became a significant Dutch Romantic marine painter. His four artist sons—Hermanus the Younger, Willem, Johannes Hermanus Barend, and Barend Hendrik—extended the family’s reach into the Netherlands and Britain. The third generation was stylistically diverse. Adèle Koekkoek worked mainly in still life, while Maria Louise Koekkoek combined silhouette work with landscape painting. Hermanus the Younger settled in London and opened a gallery around 1880, promoting works by several family members and strengthening their market in England. Willem Koekkoek brought architectural training to romantic city and landscape subjects. Johannes Hermanus Barend moved toward a more realistic and somber marine style influenced by the Laren and Hague schools. Barend Hendrik operated an Amsterdam art dealership as well as painting. The fourth generation expanded geographically and technically. Stephen Robert Koekkoek moved from England to South America, eventually becoming an important figure in Argentine art despite severe personal and financial difficulties. Hermanus Willem Koekkoek became known for detailed military scenes, illustrations, and work connected with the royal court, including a long association with The Illustrated London News. Marinus Adrianus Koekkoek the Younger worked for roughly two decades as a scientific draughtsman in Leiden, producing biological illustrations and classroom wall charts. Gerardus Johannes Koekkoek concentrated especially on printmaking while also producing landscapes and marine views. The fifth generation was smaller. Louise Hermina Carry May Koekkoek worked across painting, sculpture, and applied arts. Cornelis Koekkoek studied in The Hague and Berlin and later produced propaganda posters for the Dutch National Socialist Movement. His wartime activity led to criminal and professional consequences after 1945; later accounts characterize his motivation as opportunistic rather than necessarily ideological. He subsequently moved toward expressionistic and abstract work. Two descendants of Maria Louise Koekkoek, Vera Sackmann-Issleiber and Barend Issleiber, also became artists, although they did not use the Koekkoek surname. The family’s institutional legacy is centered on the B.C. Koekkoek-Haus in Kleve, established as a museum in 1960 in Barend Cornelis Koekkoek’s former residence. The museum preserves and interprets the family’s work, especially its contribution to Dutch and German Romantic landscape art.
- 1960
B.C. Koekkoek-Haus becomes a museum
[1]Barend Cornelis Koekkoek’s former Kleve residence began operating as a museum dedicated to the family’s artistic heritage.
- 1928
Stephen Robert Koekkoek is hospitalized
[1]He was arrested and admitted to a hospital amid serious mental-health and personal difficulties, while continuing to paint intermittently.
- 1915
Stephen Robert Koekkoek begins exhibiting in South America
[1]His work was shown in several South American countries from this period onward.
- 1908
Stephen Robert Koekkoek moves toward South America
[1]He left Europe for the Americas, later settling in Argentina and developing a professional exhibition career.
- 1880
Hermanus the Younger opens a London gallery
[1]The gallery sold works by himself, his father, and Barend Cornelis, supporting the family’s reputation in England.
- 1869
Hermanus Koekkoek the Younger settles in London
[1]His permanent move helped establish a British market for works by the Koekkoek family.
- 1859
First recorded exhibition of Johannes Hermanus Barend Koekkoek
[1]The third-generation painter began exhibiting publicly and later became known for marine art and art dealing.
- 1840
Hermanus Koekkoek enters the Amsterdam academy
[1]Hermanus pursued formal training before becoming a prominent marine painter.
- 1833
Barend Cornelis marries Elise Thérèse Daiwaille
[1]The marriage joined two artistic families; Elise Thérèse was also a painter.
- 1822
Barend Cornelis enters the Amsterdam academy
[1]He joined the newly established Koninklijke Academie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam.
Products and positioning
A multigenerational Dutch artistic tradition associated chiefly with nineteenth-century Romantic landscape and marine painting, while also encompassing illustration, printmaking, sculpture, military art, and applied arts.
Landscape painting
Kleve Romantic landscapes
The family’s best-known artistic contribution is the idealized nineteenth-century landscape tradition associated with Barend Cornelis Koekkoek and his Kleve academy. These works commonly emphasize wooded scenery, atmospheric light, distant views, and carefully arranged natural compositions. The style influenced pupils and later relatives, becoming a recognizable point of reference in Dutch and German Romantic landscape painting.
Marine painting
Dutch Romantic marine paintings
The Koekkoek marine tradition developed especially through Hermanus Koekkoek and his descendants. It included seascapes, river views, coastal activity, and atmospheric maritime scenes. Later family members retained some Romantic features while moving toward more realistic, subdued, or technically varied treatments.
Illustration
Scientific and educational illustrations
Marinus Adrianus Koekkoek the Younger worked as a scientific draughtsman and produced biological illustrations and school wall charts. This branch applied the family’s observational skills to natural-history education rather than gallery painting, creating images intended for textbooks and classroom instruction.
Graphic art
Printmaking
Gerardus Johannes Koekkoek extended the family’s practice into etching, lithography, and woodcut. Although he also painted landscapes and marine scenes, printmaking was a central part of his artistic identity and distinguished his work from the more dominant family tradition of oil painting.
Historical painting
Military and war scenes
Hermanus Willem Koekkoek became known for detailed depictions of military subjects, including scenes connected with the Franco-Prussian War and the Boer Wars. He worked from observations around barracks and training grounds, other artists’ battlefield sketches, and his own reconstruction rather than direct battlefield experience.
Controversies
Cornelis Koekkoek’s wartime propaganda
Cornelis Koekkoek produced fascist and antisemitic propaganda posters for the National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands during the Second World War. After the war he was prohibited from practicing art for a period, fined, deprived of civil rights for ten years, and placed under supervision for three years. Later scholarship has separated this activity from the reputation of his father, Marinus Adrianus Koekkoek the Younger, whose name had been associated with some of the works.
Brand decisions
1960
Creation of the B.C. Koekkoek-Haus museumOtherBackground
Barend Cornelis Koekkoek’s former residence in Kleve represented a major site in the history of the family’s landscape academy and style.
Action taken
The residence was converted into a museum dedicated to works by the Koekkoek family and related artists.
Aftermath
The museum became the principal institutional venue for preserving and interpreting the family’s artistic legacy.
1880
Hermanus the Younger establishes a London galleryStrategyBackground
The family’s works had audiences in both the Netherlands and Britain, and Hermanus the Younger had settled permanently in London.
Action taken
He opened an art gallery selling primarily his own work and paintings by his father and Barend Cornelis Koekkoek.
Aftermath
The gallery helped increase the popularity and market visibility of Koekkoek paintings in England.
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