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Artist
Dirk Rafaelsz Camphuysen
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Dirk Rafelsz Camphuysen (1586, Gorinchem – 9 July 1627, Dokkum) was a Dutch painter, poet and theologian. According to Houbraken, he was the son of a respected surgeon at Gorcum. His mother was a mennonite whose father Hans van Mazeik was beheaded for his beliefs. His mother died when young Dirk was eight, and his father followed her soon after into the grave. Camphuysen manifested great artistic talent. His older brother, who took over his father's surgical business, sent young Dirk to learn drawing from the painter Dirck Govertsz, who later also taught his son and his son's contemporary Hendrik Verschuring. He practised art quite successfully until the age of eighteen, whereupon he started to study languages. Houbraken saw some of his paintings and drawings and said he did well at landscapes with farmsheds and animals. Houbraken also mentions maneschyn or moonlight scenes. At Leiden Camphuysen was recommended as a tutor to the 'Heer van Langerak', so deserted the pursuit of art, to become a private tutor and secretary in Nieuwpoort (Netherlands), where he studied theology in his free time. After substituting a few times for pastor Taurinus in the Domkerk in Utrecht (city), he was appointed minister of Vleuten by his boss, 'Heer van Langerak'. He married and was relatively successful as a minister, but he had embraced the doctrines of Arminianism, and like other Arminians or Remonstrants, he was banned from ministry and teaching and driven into exile (1619). Another painte