English

Jacob Campo Weyerman

Jacob Campo Weyerman (1677-1747), one of the foremost Dutch writers of the Enlightenment Age, is the author of satirical periodicals, plays and artists’ biographies. Occasionally echoing the hubbub in the street and the gossip in the pub, his prose style is always evocative and colourful. As a critical observer, Weyerman liked to mock contemporary affairs and people.

His proven literary talent, however, is not the only reason to make him the Foundation’s figurehead. Weyerman’s weekly periodicals especially are a major source of information for the historian of intellectual and popular culture. They reflect Enlightenment views, but are also brimming with everyday life, from coffeehouses to fashionable trends to topical issues like cabinets of curiosities and the stock exchange. In addition, Weyerman was also very familiar with the European cultural and literary scene of his time.

He probably never had a dull moment: he was a free spirit with a zest for life. Weyerman was typecast in an early nineteenth-century novel by Adriaan Loosjes Pzn, Het leven van Johannes Wouter Blommesteyn (1816), as the ambassador of rakes and the captain of night revellers and profligates.

Weyerman alias the ambassador of rakes and the captain of night revellers. Painting by Cornelis Troost (Coll. Rijksmuseum)

And so he has remained. Weyerman is the only Dutch author to have shown us his face and, literally, his ass. Yet Weyerman did not only hear the chimes at midnight: this multi-talented writer knew how to wield the brush and, more importantly, how to use the pen.

Biography
Click here for the biography of Weyerman in English (or in Dutch).

Bibliography
Click here for a chronological survey of Weyerman’s published work (in Dutch). Links to digitized works are provided.

Jacob Campo Weyerman Foundation
Information about the Foundation is to be found here.

Literature on Weyerman
Here is a chronologically arranged selection of publications on Weyerman which have appeared outside the Mededelingen van de Stichting Jacob Campo Weyerman series (see also the Abdera series and editions of Weyerman’s texts).

Contact
This page contains addresses, information about annual subscription and ordering separate copies of the Mededelingen van de Stichting Jacob Campo Weyerman.