Caspar Netscher. Caspar Netscher was a Dutch portrait and genre painter.
   He was a master in depicting oriental rugs, silk and brocade and introduced an international style to the Northern Netherlands. According to Arnold Houbraken's 17th-century biographical study of Dutch painters he was born in Heidelberg or Prague.
   His father Johann Netscher was a sculptor from Stuttgart. The elder Netscher married Elizabet Vetter, the daughter of a mayor in Heidelberg, against her father's wishes.
   He died in Poland when Caspar was two years of age. It has been suggested that Caspar may have been the son of a Rotterdam painter.
   When Heidelberg was attacked during the civil war, Caspar's mother fled with four children to an estate outside the city. When the castle was laid under siege, the people there suffered from hunger and Caspar's two older brothers died. Caspar's mother fled in the night, carrying the young Caspar in her arms and with her young daughter on foot, staying at almshouses for widows and orphans. They travelled in this way to Arnhem, where they finally found safe quarter. In Arnhem Caspar was adopted by a rich physician named A. Tullekens. At first he was destined for the profession of his patron, but owing to his great aptitude for painting he was placed under a local artist named Hendrick Coster, and through the acquaintance of Wynant Everwyn in 1654, who had family connections to Tullekens
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