David Beck (1621 – 1656)

• Was a Dutch Golden Age portrait painter.
• Beck was born in Delft, and was named after his uncle, a well-known poet from Arnhem.

• He was the son of a schoolmaster in Delft, where he learned painting from Michiel Jansz. van Mierevelt.

• Late in 1640 he moved to London to join Anthony van Dyck's studio as a pupil and assistant.

• He taught drawing to Charles II of England and his brothers James II of England, and Henry Stuart, Duke of Gloucester.

• After the outbreak of the English Civil War that eventually led to the execution of his patron Charles I, Beck left England to travel around the courts of Europe.

• In 1647, he was appointed portrait painter and valet de chambre to Queen Christina of Sweden in Stockholm.

• He joined Christina's court in Rome in 1655, followed her to France in 1656.

• His death at The Hague that same year was suspected of being due to poisoning.

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