Pieter Idsertz

Pieter Idserdts Portier was a Frisian draughtsman, tile painter and topographical artist, born and died in Franeker. He is recorded initially as a tile painter and, from 1744, as a landscape draughtsman attached to the Franeker University, where the States of Friesland appointed him to teach drawing, particularly to students of mathematics. He also served as gatekeeper of Franeker's Westerpoort, from which the name “Portier” derives. Portier is chiefly remembered for his extensive visual record of eighteenth-century Friesland. Travelling by boat, he drew towns and villages, waterways, coastlines and harbours, as well as numerous ships. His subjects extend into North Holland, while his maps and drawings also document dikes, canals and other elements of the Frisian landscape. His work consequently combines topographical observation with an unusually strong interest in maritime life.

Portier's importance lies in the combination of artistic observation and topographical documentation. His drawings are valuable not only as landscapes but also as records of Frisian settlement, waterways and eighteenth-century shipping.