STRIJ, Dutch family of painters

Abraham van Strij I and Jacob van Strij were sons of Leendert van Strij, a painter and certainly Abraham's first teacher. For a period from 1801 the brothers shared a studio, working together on numerous commissions for the decoration of houses in Dordrecht, such as that of Jacob Vriesendorp, now in the Dordrechts Museum. As fashionable artists of their day, they played a significant part in stimulating a revival of interest in 17th-century Dutch painters, some of whose works provided them with inspiring models for emulation and, on occasion, imitation. Abraham's eldest son, Abraham van Strij II (1790–1840), followed his father's profession.