Bryan's Dictionary of Painters and Engravers/Aartsen, Pieter

​Aartsen, Pieter (or Aertsen, or Arijaensz, in which form it occurs in the record of his death in the ‘Oude Kerk’ at Amsterdam). This painter, called from his great height ‘Lange Peer,’ was the son of a stocking manufacturer, and horn at Amsterdam in 1507. Having shown an early inclination for art, he was placed under Allart Claessen, with whom he did not, however, remain longer than was necessary to learn the first rudiments, and in 1535 he joined the Antwerp Guild. Before long he had produced several pictures of the interiors of kitchens with culinary utensils, painted with great spirit, and well coloured. These performances were much admired, and it is somewhat remarkable, that although he was so successful in his attempts in that style, he abandoned these subjects, and applied himself to the more elevated walk of sacred historical painting, in which he acquired no little celebrity. One of his most esteemed works was the altar-piece he painted for the church of Our Lady at Amsterdam. The principal picture represented the ‘Death of the Virgin Mary,’ and on the two folding doors he painted the ‘Nativity,’ and the ‘Adoration of the Magi.’ These subjects were ingeniously composed and well drawn, and the colouring warm and ​ harmonious. Sandrart asserts, that he received two thousand crowns for this work.

It is no slight proof of the ability of this master, that when Michael van Coxis of Mechlin, one of the greatest artists of his time, was asked to paint an altar-piece for the new church at Amsterdam, he, on seeing the works of Pieter Aartsen, declined the undertaking, observing, that they had no occasion for his exertions when they possessed such a painter. Aartsen died at Amsterdam in 1573. Many good works by him were destroyed by the Iconoclasts in 1566; the following are his best that remain:

He had three sons, Pieter (called ‘de jonge’), Aert, and Dirk, and a grandson Geert, who were all painters.