Potgieter, Everhardus Johannes

(āvərhär´dəs yōhän´əs pôt´gētər), 1808–75, Dutch critic, essayist, and poet. He was the first editor (1837–65) of and a major contributor to De Gids, the most influential Dutch literary periodical of its era. In opposition to romanticism and to contemporary pedestrianism, he wrote the brilliant prose work Het Rijksmuseum te Amsterdam (1844), which set up for emulation the 17th-century Golden Age of Dutch literature. Florence (1868) was a poetic masterpiece on medieval Italy. The most complete edition of his work was published in 19 volumes (1885–90).