Bouts, Dirk (or Dierick) (c. 1420-1475)

Dutch painter. Born in Haarlem, he settled in Louvain, painting portraits and religious scenes influenced by Rogier van der Weyden, Albert van Ouwater, and Petrus Christus. The Last Supper (1464-68; St Pierre, Louvain) is one of his finest works.

Bouts settled in Louvain about 1448. In 1468 he was appointed painter to the town council, and in this year he finished two large panels for Louvain town hall, The Judgement of the Emperor Otto (Musée Royal des Beaux-Arts, Brussels), two panels illustrating a legend praising the virtue of justice. They are striking and powerful works with life-size figures. His only other certain work is an altarpiece commissioned by the Church of St Peter Louvain in 1464, which is still there. The central panel shows The Last Supper. Bouts, who was best suited to undramatic subjects, had a sensitive feeling for both landscapes and portraits. He had considerable influence in the Netherlands and in Germany.

Two of his sons, Dieric Bouts the Younger (died 1490/1) and Albrecht Bouts (c. 1455-1549), were also painters. Albrecht's work includes copies of his father's paintings, including a Last Supper (Musée d'Art Ancien, Brussels).