LUTMA, Johannes the Elder
(b. 1587, Emden, 1669, Amsterdam)

Biography

Dutch silver- and goldsmith. He was born in the German town of Emden, around 1615 he was living in Paris. In 1621 he settled permanently in Amsterdam, where he married two years later. He was a friend of Rembrandt, who etched his portrait. He has wrongly been thought to have been a pupil of the goldsmith Paulus van Vianen. He is best known for the choir-screen in the Nieuwe Kerk, Amsterdam (etched by Johannes the Younger), and his designs for zoomorphic ornaments. This 'auricular' style was briefly influential among a small group of artists in the Netherlands, Germany, and possibly Denmark.

His son Johannes Lutma the Younger also worked in precious metals and published a series of prints of ornamental designs by his father.