Artus Gheerdinck

Artus Gheerdinck (1564, Antwerp, Belgium — 9 June 1624, Amsterdam, Netherlands) was a Dutch harpsichord maker. In 1595, he became a carillonneur ("bell ringer") at Oude Kerk, Amsterdam, serving alongside renowned organist Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (1562—1621). Gheerdinck was responsible for tuning both church organs and ran his workshop in the attic space. Artus married circa 1598 and had a son, Harmanus Geerdinghs (1600—post-1677), who continued the family's oeuvre. Only one of Artus Gheerdinck's instruments survived, the 1605 four-octave rectangular virginal with a C/E–c''' compass, currently preserved at Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg. (Grant O'Brien claimed in his seminal 1990 book Ruckers: A harpsichord and virginal building tradition published by Cambridge University Press that another 1658 harpsichord in the Germanisches Nationalmuseum's collection signed as "Hans Ruckers" was likely made by Gheerdinck.) Name variations: Artus Geerdinghs, Aert Geerdincks, Geerding, Geerdincx, Geerdinx, Geerdinxius