Biography

Dutch painter, draughtsman and engraver. He was a pupil of Nicolaes Berchem and Hendrick Mommers. He entered the Haarlem Guild of St Luke in 1678, later moving to The Hague, where he entered the Guild in 1697. He accompanied William III, Prince of Orange Nassau, to England and joined him on his Irish campaign. A large drawing of the Battle of the Boyne, signed and dated 1 July 1690 (Windsor Castle, Royal Library), served as the basis for an unknown number of paintings. He also made two engravings of the battle.

He was back in the Netherlands by 1693 and apparently continued working for William III, decorating his hunting lodge at Soestdijk. He painted three versions of William III Stag Hunting, one dated 1696 (two in Paleis Het Loo, Apeldoorn; one in National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin).

Most of Maas's pictures contain horses. His preferred subjects include cavalry skirmishes, hunting parties, horse fairs and, occasionally, winter scenes. Their settings are sometimes Italianate, but the costumes are usually northern and often military. His style stems from his teachers and from his friend Jan van Huchtenburg (1647-1733), who was an important influence, but his colour scheme, predominantly green, is more sombre than theirs. His numerous drawings are in red or black chalk, often with watercolour. A group of 33 in the Staatliche Graphische Sammlung in Munich includes watercolour pastoral landscapes and rapid chalk sketches of cavalry battles and military manoeuvres.