Flemish Baroque painting
Photograph by Noah Scalinon Flickr.
Many were created by anonymous The Joy of Painting artists, however artists such as Jan Brueghel the Elder, Hendrik van Balen, Frans Francken the Younger and Hendrik de Clerck were all successful cabinet Flemish Baroque painting painters during the first half of the seventeenth century. Flemish artists such as Jan Miel (1599–1664) and Michael Sweerts (1618–1664) settled in Rome and adopted the style of the Dutch painter Pieter van Laer.
Both Van Dyck and Jacob Jordaens were active painting monumental history scenes. The genre Flemish Baroque painting continued in the later seventeenth-century by Anton Ghering and Willem Schubart von Ehrenberg, but the Flemish examples do not demonstrate the same level of innovation found in the Dutch perspectives of Pieter Jansz Saenredam or Emanuel de Witte. Gallery paintings appeared in Antwerp around 1610, and developed—like architectural interiors—from the compositions Flemish Baroque painting of Hans Vredeman de Vries.
Painted for the Arquebusiers guild, the Descent from the Cross triptych (1611–14; Cathedral of Our Lady, Antwerp)—with side wings depicting the Visitation and Presentation in the Temple, and exterior panels showing St. Many of these are kermis paintings and scenes of peasants partaking other outdoor enjoyments viewed from an elevated viewpoint.
Van Dyck became court painter for Charles I of England and was influential on subsequent English portraiture. Christopher and the Hermit—is an important reflection of Counter-Reformation ideas about art combined with Baroque naturalism, dynamism and monumentality. Although not predominately a portrait painter, Rubens s contributions include early works such as his Portrait of Brigida Spinola-Doria (1606, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.), paintings of his wives (the Honeysuckle Bower and Het Pelsken), and numerous portraits of friends and nobility.
These works show both noble hunts, such as the Wolf and Fox Hunt (Metropolitan Museum of Art), and exotic hunts, such as the Lion Hunt (Alte Pinakothek, Munich). Frans Snyders, for example, was an animal painter and Jan Brueghel the Elder was admired for his landscapes and paintings of plants.
By the seventeenth-century, however, Antwerp was the main city for innovative artistic production, largely due to the presence of Rubens. Following Rubens s death, Jordaens became the most important Flemish painter.
He also painted expressive facial studies like The Bitter Drink (illustrated), a genre called tronies ( faces ). These artists, as well as followers of Adam Elsheimer like David Teniers the Elder, remained partly shaped by continued mannerist stylistic tendencies.
Many artists follow the tradition of Pieter Bruegel the Elder in depicting low-life peasant themes, although elegant high-life subjects featuring fashionably-dressed couples at balls or in gardens of love are also common. Images of woman performing household tasks, popularized in the northern Netherlands by Pieter de Hooch and Jan Vermeer, is not a significant subject in the south, although artists such as Jan Siberechts explored these themes to some degree. Flemish genre painting is strongly tied to the traditions of Pieter Bruegel the Elder and was a style that continued directly into the seventeenth century through copies and new compositions made by his sons Pieter Brueghel the Younger and Jan Brueghel the Elder.
Among them were Pieter Thijs, Lucas Franchoys the Younger, and artists who were also inspired by Late Baroque theatricality such as Theodoor Boeyermans and Jan-Erasmus Quellinus. They show, on a larger scale than earlier works, complex compositions of expensive items, rare foods, and fleshy, peeling fruit.
Adriaen Brouwer, whose small paintings often show peasants fighting and drinking, was particularly influential on subsequent artists. Artists in the vein include Erasmus Quellinus the Younger, Jan van den Hoecke, Pieter van Lint, Cornelis Schut, and Thomas Willeboirts Bosschaert.
Other developments in Flemish Baroque painting are similar to those found in Dutch Golden Age painting, with artists specializing in such areas as history painting, portraiture, genre painting, landscape painting, and still life. Flemish , in the context of this and artistic periods such as Flemish Primitives, often includes the regions not associated with modern Flanders, including the Duchy of Brabant and the autonomous Prince-Bishopric of Liège. In later versions, the fleshy Madonna and Child gave way to sculptural niches and even pagan themes. The ontbijtje, or little breakfast , is a type of still life that was popular in both the northern and southern Netherlands showing a variety of eating and drinking vessels and foods such as cheese and bread against a neutral background.
A well-known example is the Landscape with a view of Het Steen (National Gallery of London). Small seascapes (zeekens) were another popular theme. Rubens owned more works by him at the time of his death than any other painter, and artists such as David Teniers the Younger, Jan van de Venne, Joos van Craesbeeck and David Ryckaert III continued to work in a similar manner. Paintings of elegant couples in the latest fashions, often with underlying themes of love or the five senses, were commonly painted by Hieronymous Francken the Younger, Louis de Caullery, Simon de Vos, David Teniers the Younger and David Ryckaert III.
Other successful portraitists include Cornelis de Vos and Jacob Jordaens. Later in the century, many painters turned to Anthony van Dyck as a major influence.
These latter paintings are closely related to images of the hunt, which came into fashion in Flemish painting during the seventeenth century. Rubens introduced the monumental hunt to Flemish art, depicting on a large scale a close battle inspired by his study of classical antiquity and Leonardo da Vinci s Battle of Anghiari. Rubens s Garden of Love (c.
Abraham Janssens was an important history painter in Antwerp between 1600 and 1620, although after 1609 Rubens was the leading figure. These paintings, like others by Caravaggisti, are generally illuminated by strong lighting effects.
1596–1666) were all artists who made these types of painting. Many were actual locations.
Both artists worked with Rubens, who often usually painted the figures, and other artists to create collaborative pieces. Flower still life painting, which developed around 1600 by artists such as Jan Brueghel the Elder, was partially a Flemish innovation, In Antwerp, however, this new genre also developed into a specifically Catholic type of painting, the flower garland. Most artists active in the city during the first half of the seventeenth century were directly influenced by Rubens. Flemish art is notable for the large amount of collaboration that took place between independent masters, which was partly related to the local tendency to specialize in a particular area.
Between 1585 and the early 1600s they made many new altarpieces to replace those destroyed during the iconoclastic outbreaks of 1566. Also during this time Frans Francken the Younger and Jan Brueghel the Elder became important for their small cabinet paintings, often depicting mythological and history subjects. Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640), a student of both Otto van Veen and Adam van Noort, spent eight years in Italy (1600–1608), during which time he studied examples of classical antiquity, the Italian Renaissance, and contemporaries Adam Elsheimer and Caravaggio.
Brouwer s art was recognized in his own lifetime and had a powerful impact on Flemish art. Born in the Southern Netherlands, Brouwer spent the 1620s in Amsterdam and Haarlem, where he came under the influence of Frans and Dirk Hals and other artists working in a loose painterly manner.
Osias Beert, Clara Peeters, Cornelis Mahu and Jacob van Es (c. Subsequent artists, Jan Fyt and Pieter Boel further elaborated on this type by including a noticeable mixture of living animals and dead game.
Many of these paintings use compositional and lighting influences similar to those of the Caravaggisti, while the treatment of the subjects inspired Dutch artists like Jan Steen. Another popular type of painting invented in the Low Countries was landscapes with historical and fictional battles, as well as skirmishes and robberies. Although most Flemish portraiture is life-sized or monumental, Gonzales Coques and Gillis van Tilborch specialized in small-scale group portraiture. Genre paintings, or scenes of everyday life, are common in the seventeenth century.
These paintings are related to vanitas and transience motifs. Frans Snyders (1579–1657) painted large still lifes focusing on dead game and animals. These small paintings were traded widely throughout Europe, and by way of Spain to Latin America. .
Hendrik van Steenwijk II, on the other hand, followed Vredeman s precedent in painting imaginary interiors. Flemish Baroque painting is the art produced in the Southern Netherlands between about 1585, when the Dutch Republic was split from the Habsburg Spain regions to the south by the recapturing of Antwerp by the Spanish, until about 1700, when Habsburg authority ended with the death of King Charles II. Rubens, in particular, had a strong influence on seventeenth-century visual culture.
Forest and mountain landscapes were painted by Abraham Govaerts, Alexander Keirincx, Gijsbrecht Leytens, Tobias Verhaecht and Joos de Momper. Additionally, a Flemish variant of Caravaggism was expressed by Theodoor Rombouts and Gerard Seghers. Rubens is closely associated with the development of the Baroque altarpiece.
Paul Bril settled in Rome, where he specialized as a landscape painter decorating Roman villas and creating small cabinet paintings. Jan Wildens and Lucas van Uden painted natural landscapes inspired by Rubens, and frequently collaborated with figure painters or animal specialists to paint the backgrounds. He left a strong influence on northern landscape painting in general through his period in Amsterdam and as a founding member of the Frankenthal School.
Other types of paintings closely associated with Flemish Baroque include the monumental hunting scenes by Rubens and Snyders, and gallery paintings by artists such as Willem van Haecht and David Teniers the Younger. History painting, which includes biblical, mythological and historical subjects, was considered by seventeenth-century theoreticians as the most noble art. In general, genre painting was not as accepted in Italy, especially by official organizations such as the Academy of St.
This style developed in the Dutch Republic, and was brought to Antwerp by Jan Davidsz de Heem. It acted loosely as a guild (but is better-known for the bohemian lifestyles of its members and drunken festivities), bringing together Dutch and Flemish painters with similar interests and traditions. Gillis van Coninxloo was an innovative landscape painter in Antwerp in the late sixteenth century, who introduced a more natural view instead of the traditional universal landscape popularized by earlier painters such as Joachim Patiner.
Frans Snyders and Paul de Vos created similarly large paintings which are distinct from Rubens s works in their focus on the animals and absence of human participation. Small, intricate paintings, usually depicting history and biblical subjects, were produced in great numbers in the Southern Netherlands throughout the seventeenth century. Upon his return to Antwerp around 1631 or 1632 he introduced a new, influential format in which the subjects were painted as interior, instead of exterior, scenes.
Other notable artists working in the idiom of Rubens include Gaspar de Crayer, who was active in Brussels, Artus Wolffort, Cornelis de Vos, Jan Cossiers, Theodoor van Thulden, Abraham van Diepenbeeck, and Jan Boeckhorst. 1634–5; Prado Museum) belongs to these traditions. Whereas elegant company scenes and works by Brouwer and his followers were often small in scale, other artists looked to Caravaggio for inspiration and painted large-scale, theatrically-inspired scenes in which musicians, cardplayers, and fortune tellers are pushed to the foreground of the composition.
Brussels was important as the location of the court, attracting David Teniers the Younger later in the century. Although paintings produced at the end of the sixteenth century belong to general Northern Mannerist and Late Renaissance approaches that were common throughout Europe, artists such as Otto van Veen, Adam van Noort, Marten de Vos, and the Francken family were particularly instrumental in setting the stage for the local Baroque. Following his return to Antwerp he set up an important studio, training students such as Anthony van Dyck, and generally exerting a strong influence on the direction of Flemish art.
Such paintings continued to be made in Antwerp by Gerard Thomas (1663–1721) and Balthasar van den Bossche (1681–1715), and foreshadow the development of the veduta in Italy and the galleries of Giovanni Paolo Pannini. Jan Brueghel the Younger was one of the important innovators of the floral still life around 1600. Closely related to the flower still life is the flower garland genre of painting that was invented by Jan Brueghel in collaboration with cardinal Federico Borromeo in Milan. Rombouts was also influenced by his teacher Abraham Janssens, who began incorporating Caravaggesque influences into his history paintings from first decade of the 1600s . Jacob Jordaens, who became Antwerp s most important artist after Rubens s death in 1640, is well-known for his monumental genre paintings of subjects such as The King Drinks and As the Old Sing, So Pipe the Young.
Artists in the Dutch Republic, such as the Flemish-born David Vinckboons and Roelandt Savery, also made similar works, popularizing rustic scenes of everyday life closely associated with Dutch and Flemish painting. Adriaen Brouwer (1605 or 1606–1638) typically painted small scenes of ragged peasants fighting, gaming, drinking and generally expressing exaggerated and rude behaviour. Known as the Bamboccianti they specialized in rustic scenes of everyday life in Rome and its countryside.
He also exerted a strong influence on Baroque portraiture through his student Anthony van Dyck. Artists such as Bonaventura Peeters painted shipwrecks and atmospheric views of ships at sea, as well as imaginary views of exotic ports.
Rubens turned to landscape painting in the 1630s, focusing on the area around his chateau, Het Steen. Among them are Frans Wouters, Jan Thomas van Ieperen, Simon de Vos, Pieter van Lint, and Willem van Herp.
Luke, so many of the painters also joined the Bentvueghels. Adam de Coster, Gerard Seghers and Theodoor Rombouts were the main exponents of this popular style in the early seventeenth century, which was popularized by Italian followers of Caravaggio like Bartolomeo Manfredi and Utrecht Caravaggisti like Gerrit van Honthorst.
look back to the sixteenth-century paintings of Pieter Aertsen and Joachim Beuckelaer, but instill that tradition with a High Baroque monumentality. His innovations helped define Antwerp as one of Europe s major artistic cities, especially for Counter Reformation imagery, and his student Van Dyck was instrumental in establishing new directions in English portraiture.
Hendrik van Minderhout, who was from Rotterdam and settled in Antwerp, continued this latter theme contemporaneous with developments of marine painting in the Dutch Republic. Interior architectural views, usually of churches, developed out of the late sixteenth-century works of Hans Vredeman de Vries. Pieter Neeffs I, for example, made numerous interiors of the Cathedral of Our Lady, Antwerp.
However, Rubens influenced a number of later artists who incorporated his Baroque style into the small context of these works. These paintings are inspired by the colors of the Roman Campagna and study of classical sculpture.
More elaborate are the pronk, or sumptuous , still life. His compositions, along with those of his follower Adriaen van Utrecht (1599–1652).