Dutch impressionistic and melancholic graphic artist, painter, etcher and lithographer.
He was the the third child of the tannor and from 1873 till 1876 mayor of Sneek Jan Ten Cate (29 January 1828, Sneek – 10 June 1876, Sneek) and Popkje Tuymelaar (2 February 1827 – Heerenveen – 4 July 1879, Sneek). They married 28 Augustus 1851 in Nijehaske and got six children. His eldest brother Steven Ten Cate (3 May 1853, Sneek – 23 October 1880, IJmuiden) and younger sisters Johanna Francijntje Ten Cate (23 September 1859, Sneek – 25 November 1864, Sneek) and Anna Jeltje Ten Cate (2 January 1864, Sneek – 21 July 1867, Sneek) died when he was young.
He studied painting at the Rijksacademy in Amsterdam and under the political cartoonist Johan Michaël Schmidt Crans (30 April 1830) in Den Haag. At age 22, after the loss of his parents, he opened a studio in Paris and became influenced by the impressionism. He met Vincent van Gogh, who described him as a “small person, with black or at least dark hair and rather pale complexion, very neatly dressed entirely in black clothes.” He became befriended with Kees van Dongen, with whom he for a while shared a studio in Montmartre. He visited regularly the Netherlands to sketch in the harbours of Dordrecht en Rotterdam, but he earned his money in France, as the impressionist were not popular then in Holland.
He never married, did not discuss a lot with his peers in Paris, but held a dog and three cats in his studio at Rue de Malte 65, where he worked steadily on. He made study voyages to England, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, North Africa and North America. Although he was a regular exposer in Paris, including with Van Dongen at the Salon d’automne (1903- 1905), his melancholic work was not very appreciated in Holland. Via art dealer Vollard, he met Camille Pissarro (1830-1903) and Alfred Sisley (1839-1899).
Ten Cate died 19 December 1908 in Paris as a result of a sudden congestion, the increase of the blood volume in the blood vessels. He died not rich, but also not poor. He left some paintings, an antique painted furniture from Hindeloopen and his fiddle.
From 18 February till 13 May 2012 the “Frysk Skipfeart Museum” (Frisian Ship Transport Museum) in Sneek held an exhibition of his work.

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