WEYERMAN, JACOB CAMPO

(1677–1747)

Journalist and pam phleteer. As a painter and engraver, Weyerman did not succeed, so he turned to writing. Besides many satirical and injurious tracts and weeklies, he published a bulky biographical dictionary of Dutch artists, which really is an adaptation of the famous dictionary of Arnold Houbraken (1660–1719). Weyerman was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Court of Holland in The Hague on charges of libel and blackmail. Nevertheless, he is currently regarded as one of the exponents of the early Dutch Enlightenment. Since 1977, the Stichting (Foundation) Jacob Campo Weyerman has stimulated the study and reissue of his works.