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Flemish Baroque painting

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See also: Baroque painting

Flemish Baroque painting refers to the art produced in the Southern Netherlands
during Spanish control in the 16th and 17th centuries. The period roughly begins
when the Dutch Republic was split from the Habsburg Spain regions to the south with
the Spanish recapturing of Antwerp in 1585 and goes until about 1700, when
Habsburg authority ended with the death of King Charles II.[1] Antwerp, home to the
prominent artists Peter Paul Rubens, Anthony van Dyck, and Jacob Jordaens, was the
artistic nexus, while other notable cities include Brussels and Ghent.[1]
Rubens, in particular, had a strong influence on seventeenth-century visual culture.
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. Other developments
in Flemish Baroque painting are similar to those found in Dutch Golden Age
painting,[1] with artists specializing in such areas as history painting, portraiture, genre
painting, landscape painting, and still life.
Contents [hide]
1 General characteristics
1.1 Late Mannerism
1.2 "The Age of Rubens"
1.3 Specializations and collaborations
1.4 Innovations
2 History painting
3 Religious painting
4 Portraiture
5 Genre painting
5.1 Bruegel tradition
5.2 Adriaen Brouwer and his followers
5.3 Elegant company scenes
5.4 Monumental genre scenes
5.5 Jacob Jordaens
5.6 Battle scenes
5.7 Bamboccianti and Italian
classicism
6 Landscape and seascape
6.1 Early landscape painting
6.2 Rubens and later painters
6.3 Marine painting
7 Architectural painting
8 Gallery and art collection painting
9 Still life and animal painting
9.1 Flower painting
9.2 Garland painting
9.3 Breakfast and banquet still life
9.4 Animal still life
10 Hunting scenes
11 Cabinet painting
12 See also
13 References
14 Sources
15 External links

General characteristics

Peter Paul Rubens, The Raising of

the Cross, c. 16101611

History of Dutch and Flemish painting

Early Netherlandish (14001523)
Renaissance painting (15201580)
Northern Mannerism (15801615)
Dutch "Golden Age" painting (16151702)
Flemish Baroque painting (16081700)
List of Dutch painters
List of Flemish painters

[edit]

"Flemish", in the context of this and artistic periods such as Flemish Primitives, often includes the regions not associated with
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modern Flanders, including the Duchy of Brabant and the autonomous Prince-Bishopric of Lige.[1] By the seventeenthcentury, however, Antwerp was the main city for innovative artistic production, largely due to the presence of Rubens.
Brussels was important as the location of the court, attracting David Teniers the Younger later in the century.

Late Mannerism [edit]

Frans Hogenberg, The Calvinist

Iconoclastic Riot of August 20, 1566
when many paintings and church
decorations were destroyed and
subsequently replaced by late Northern
Mannerist and Baroque artists.

Although paintings produced at the end of the 16th 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. Between 1585 and the early 17th century 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.

"The Age of Rubens" [edit]

Peter Paul Rubens (15771640), a student of both Otto van Veen and Adam van
Noort, spent eight years in Italy (16001608), during which time he studied examples
of classical antiquity, the Italian Renaissance, and contemporaries Adam Elsheimer and Caravaggio. 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. Most artists active in the city during the first half of the 17th century were directly influenced by
Rubens.

Specializations and collaborations [edit]

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. Frans Snyders, for example, was an animal painter and Jan Brueghel the
Elder was admired for his landscapes and paintings of plants. Both artists worked with
Rubens, who often usually painted the figures, and other artists to create collaborative
pieces.

Innovations [edit]
Peter Paul Rubens and

Frans Francken the Younger,

Preziosenwand (Wall of Treasures),
1636. Kunsthistorischesmuseum,
Vienna. This type of painting was one of
the distinctly Flemish innovations that
developed during the early 17th century.

Flower still life painting, which developed around 1600

Frans Snyders, Prometheus
by artists such as Jan Brueghel the Elder, was
Bound, 1611-12. Philadelphia
Museum of Art. This painting
partially a Flemish innovation,[2] echoed in the Dutch
is Flemish Baroque example
Republic in the works of the Antwerp-born Ambrosius
of collaboration and
Bosschaert the Elder (15731621).[3] In Antwerp,
specialization. Snyders, who
however, this new genre also developed into a
specialized in animals,
painted the eagle while
specifically Catholic type of painting, the flower
Rubens painted the figure of
garland. Other types of paintings closely associated
Prometheus.
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

[edit]

History painting, which includes biblical, mythological and historical subjects, was
considered by seventeenth-century theoreticians as the most noble art. Abraham Janssens was an important history painter
in Antwerp between 1600 and 1620, although after 1609 Rubens was the leading figure. Both Van Dyck and Jacob Jordaens
were active painting monumental history scenes. Following Rubens's death, Jordaens became the most important Flemish
painter. 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. During the
second half of the century, history painters combined a local influence from Rubens with knowledge of classicism and Italian
Baroque qualities. Artists in the vein include Erasmus Quellinus the Younger, Jan van den Hoecke, Pieter van Lint, Cornelis
Schut, and Thomas Willeboirts Bosschaert. Later in the century, many painters turned to Anthony van Dyck as a major
influence.[4] 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. Additionally, a Flemish variant of
Caravaggism was expressed by Theodoor Rombouts and Gerard Seghers.

Religious painting

[edit]

Rubens is closely associated with the development of the Baroque altarpiece. Painted for the Arquebusiers' guild, the
Descent from the Cross triptych (161114; Cathedral of Our Lady, Antwerp)with side wings depicting the Visitation and
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Presentation in the Temple, and exterior panels showing St. Christopher and the Hermitis an important reflection of
Counter-Reformation ideas about art combined with Baroque naturalism, dynamism and monumentality.[5] Roger de Piles
explains that "the painter has entered so fully into the expression of his subject that the sight of this work has the power to
touch a hardened soul and cause it to experience the sufferings endured by Jesus Christ in order to redeem it."[6]

Portraiture

[edit]

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. He also exerted a strong influence on Baroque portraiture through his
student Anthony van Dyck. Van Dyck became court painter for Charles I of England and was
influential on subsequent English portraiture. Other successful portraitists include Cornelis de
Vos and Jacob Jordaens. Although most Flemish portraiture is life-sized or monumental,
Gonzales Coques and Gillis van Tilborch specialized in small-scale group portraiture.

Genre painting

Adriaen Brouwer, The

Bitter Drink, c. 16301640.
Brouwer's expressive
peasants are typical of "lowlife" genre painting.

[edit]

Anthony van Dyck, Portrait

of King Charles I ('Le roy la
Chasse'), 1635. Louvre, Paris.

Genre paintings, or scenes of everyday life, are common in

the 17th century. 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.
Adriaen Brouwer, whose small paintings often show peasants fighting and drinking, was
particularly influential on subsequent artists. 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.

Bruegel tradition [edit]

Flemish genre painting is strongly tied to the traditions of Pieter Bruegel the Elder and was a
style that continued directly into the 17th century through copies and new compositions made
by his sons Pieter Brueghel the Younger and Jan Brueghel the Elder. Many of these are
kermis paintings and scenes of peasants taking part in other outdoor enjoyments viewed from an elevated viewpoint. 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 and his followers [edit]

Adriaen Brouwer (1605 or 16061638) typically painted small scenes of ragged peasants fighting, gaming, drinking and
generally expressing exaggerated and rude behaviour. 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. 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. He also painted expressive facial studies like The Bitter Drink
(illustrated), a genre called tronies ("faces"). Brouwer's art was recognized in his own lifetime and had a powerful impact on
Flemish art. 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.

Elegant company scenes [edit]

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. Rubens's Garden of Love (c. 16345; Prado Museum) belongs to these traditions.

Monumental genre scenes [edit]

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. These paintings, like others by Caravaggisti, are generally
illuminated by strong lighting effects. Adam de Coster, Gerard Seghers and Theodoor Rombouts were the main exponents of
this popular style in the early 17th century, which was popularized by Italian followers of Caravaggio like Bartolomeo Manfredi
and Utrecht Caravaggisti like Gerrit van Honthorst. Rombouts was also influenced by his teacher Abraham Janssens, who
began incorporating Caravaggesque influences into his history paintings from first decade of the 17th century .

Jacob Jordaens [edit]

Jacob Jordaens, who became Antwerp's most important artist after Rubens's death in 1640, is well known for his monumental
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genre paintings of subjects such as The King Drinks and As the Old Sing, So Pipe the
Young. 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.

Battle scenes [edit]

Another popular type of painting invented in the Low Countries was landscapes with
historical and fictional battles, as well as skirmishes and robberies. Sebastiaen Vrancx
and his pupil Pieter Snayers specialized in this genre, and Snayer's student AdamFrans van der Meulen continued painting them in Antwerp, Brussels and Paris until
the end of the century.

Jacob Jordaens, The King Drinks.

Jordeans was well known for his large
paintings of moralistic genre scenes,
such as this depiction of an Epiphany
feast.

Bamboccianti and Italian classicism

[edit]
Following a time-honoured tradition, many northern artists travelled to Italy in the 17th
century. Flemish artists such as Jan Miel (15991664) and Michael Sweerts (1618
1664) settled in Rome and adopted the style of the Dutch painter Pieter van Laer.
Known as the Bamboccianti they specialized in rustic scenes of everyday life in Rome
and its countryside. These paintings are inspired by the colors of the Roman
Campagna and study of classical sculpture. In general, genre painting was not as
accepted in Italy, especially by official organizations such as the Academy of St. Luke,
so many of the painters also joined the Bentvueghels. 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.

Landscape and seascape

Michael Sweerts, Wrestling Match,

1649. Karlsruhe, Staatliche Kunsthalle.
Sweerts's style is heavily influenced by
his time in Rome, and in this painting
he combines rural subjects with
classical poses and Italian coloring

[edit]

Early landscape painting [edit]

Gillis van Coninxloo was an innovative landscape painter in Antwerp in the late 16th century, who introduced a more natural
view instead of the traditional universal landscape popularized by earlier painters such as Joachim Patiner. 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. Forest and mountain landscapes were painted by Abraham Govaerts, Alexander Keirincx, Gijsbrecht
Leytens, Tobias Verhaecht and Joos de Momper. Paul Bril settled in Rome, where he specialized as a landscape painter
decorating Roman villas and creating small cabinet paintings.

Rubens and later painters [edit]

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. Rubens turned to landscape painting in the 1630s, focusing on the
area around his chateau, Het Steen. A well-known example is the Landscape with a
view of 'Het Steen' (National Gallery of London).
Peter Paul Rubens, Landscape with
view of 'Het Steen', 1636.

Marine painting [edit]

Small seascapes (zeekens) were another popular theme. Artists such as Bonaventura
Peeters painted shipwrecks and atmospheric views of ships at sea, as well as imaginary views of exotic ports. 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.

Architectural painting

[edit]

Interior architectural views, usually of churches, developed out of the late sixteenth-century works of Hans Vredeman de
Vries. Many were actual locations. Pieter Neeffs I, for example, made numerous interiors of the Cathedral of Our Lady,
Antwerp. Hendrik van Steenwijk II, on the other hand, followed Vredeman's precedent in painting imaginary interiors. The
genre 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.[7]

Gallery and art collection painting

[edit]

Gallery paintings appeared in Antwerp around 1610, and developedlike architectural interiorsfrom the compositions of
Hans Vredeman de Vries.[8] One of the earliest innovators of this new genre was Frans Francken the Younger, who
introduced the type of work known as the Preziosenwand (wall of treasures). In these, prints, paintings, sculptures, drawings,
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as well as collectable objects from the natural world like shells and flowers are
collected together in the foreground against a wall that imitates encyclopedic cabinets
of curiosities. A similar variation of these collections of artistic wealth are the series of
the five senses created by Jan Brueghel the Elder and Rubens (Prado Museum,
Madrid). Willem van Haecht (15931637) developed another variation in which
illustrations of actual artworks are displayed in a fantasy art gallery, while
connoisseurs and art lovers admire them. Later in the century, David Teniers the
Younger, working in the capacity of court painter to Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of
Austria, documented the archduke's collection of Italian paintings in Brussels as
gallery painters as well as in a printed cataloguethe Theatrum Pictorium. Flemish
Gallery and art collection paintings have been interpreted as a kind of visual theory of
art.[9] Such paintings continued to be made in Antwerp by Gerard Thomas (1663
1721) and Balthasar van den Bossche (16811715), and foreshadow the
development of the veduta in Italy and the galleries of Giovanni Paolo Pannini.

Still life and animal painting

David Teniers the Younger, The

Archduke Leopold Wilhelm in his
gallery in Brussels. Teniers
documented the archduke's collection
of paintings in this work while he was
court painter in Brussels.

[edit]

Flower painting [edit]

Jan Brueghel the Elder,

Flower Still Life, 1603.
Brueghel was an innovator of
the flower still life genre.

Jan Brueghel the Elder was one of the important innovators of the floral still life around
1600.[2] These paintings, which presented immaculately observed arrangements and
compositions, were imaginary creations of flowers that bloom at different times of the years.[2]
They were popular with leading patrons and nobility across Europe, and generally have an
underlying Vanitas motif. The compositions of Brueghel's paintings were also influential on
later Dutch flower pieces.[10] Brueghel's sons Jan Brueghel the Younger and Ambrosius
Brueghel were also flower specialists. Osias Beert (15801624) was another flower painter at
the beginning of the 17th century. His paintings share many similarities with northern
contemporaries such as Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder.[10]

Garland painting [edit]

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.[11] The early versions of these paintings, such as
the collaboration by Breughel and Rubens in Munich (Alte Pinakothek, Munich) show the Virgin Mary and Christ child
surrounded by a garland of flowers. They have been interpreted as distinctly Counter Reformation images, with the flowers
emphasizing the delicacy of the Virgin and Childimages of which were destroyed in large numbers during the iconoclastic
outbreaks of 1566.[12] Brueghel's student, the Jesuit painter Daniel Seghers, also painted many of these types of works for an
international clientele.[13] In later versions, the fleshy Madonna and Child gave way to sculptural niches and even pagan
themes.

Breakfast and banquet still life [edit]

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. Osias Beert,
Clara Peeters, Cornelis Mahu and Jacob van Es (c. 15961666) were all artists who
made these types of painting. More elaborate are the pronk, or "sumptuous", still life.
This style developed in the Dutch Republic, and was brought to Antwerp by Jan
Davidsz de Heem. They show, on a larger scale than earlier works, complex
compositions of expensive items, rare foods, and fleshy, peeling fruit. These paintings
are related to vanitas and transience motifs.

Osias Beert, Still life with oysters, c.

1610. Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart. Beert's
still lifes are typical of the "breakfast"
type painted early in the 17th century.

Animal still life [edit]

Frans Snyders, The Pantry, c. 1620.

Frans Snyders (15791657) painted large still lifes focusing on dead game and
animals. His compositions, along with those of his follower Adriaen van Utrecht (1599
1652). look back to the sixteenth-century paintings of Pieter Aertsen and Joachim
Beuckelaer, but instill that tradition with a High Baroque monumentality.[14]
Subsequent artists, Jan Fyt and Pieter Boel further elaborated on this type by
including a noticeable mixture of living animals and dead game. These latter paintings
are closely related to images of the hunt, which came into fashion in Flemish painting

during the 17th century.

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Hunting scenes

[edit]

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. 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 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.

Cabinet painting

Peter Paul Rubens, Tiger and Lion

Hunt, c. 16171618. Muse des Beaux
Arts, Rennes. This painting is typical of
Rubens's "exotic" hunts painted
between about 1615 and 1625.

[edit]

Small, intricate paintings, usually depicting history and biblical subjects, were
produced in great numbers in the Southern Netherlands throughout the 17th century.
Many were created by anonymous artists, however artists such as Jan Brueghel the
Elder, Hendrik van Balen, Frans Francken the Younger and Hendrik de Clerck were all successful cabinet painters during the
first half of the 17th century. These artists, as well as followers of Adam Elsheimer like David Teniers the Elder, remained
partly shaped by continued mannerist stylistic tendencies. However, Rubens influenced a number of later artists who
incorporated his Baroque style into the small context of these works. Among them are Frans Wouters, Jan Thomas van
Ieperen, Simon de Vos, Pieter van Lint, and Willem van Herp. These small paintings were traded widely throughout Europe,
and by way of Spain to Latin America.[15]

See also

[edit]

Antwerp school
List of Flemish painters
Flemish painting

References
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.

[edit]

^a b c d

Vleighe, p. 1.
^ a b c Vlieghe, pp. 207212.
^ Slive, p. 279.
^ Vlieghe, pp. 98104.
^ Belkin, pp. 113121.
^ Martin, Baroque, pp. 2021.
^ Vlieghe, pp. 200202.
^ Vlieghe, p. 202.
^ Vlieghe, pp. 202206.
^ a b Vlieghe, p. 208.
^ David Freedberg, "The Origins and Rise of the Flemish Madonnas in Flower Garlands, Decoration and Devotion", Mnchener
Jahrbuch der bildenden Kunst, xxxii, 1981, pp. 115150.
^ Freedberg (1981), op. cit.
^ Vlieghe, p. 209.
^ Vlieghe, pp. 211216.
^ Vlieghe, pp. 105114.

Sources

[edit]

Belkin, Kristin Lohse (1998). Rubens. London: Phaidon Press. ISBN 0-7148-3412-2
Martin, J. R. (1977). Baroque. New York: Harper & Row. ISBN 0-06-435332-X
Slive, S. (1995). Dutch painting 1600-1800. Yale University Press Pelican history of art. New Haven, Conn: Yale University
Press. ISBN 0-300-06418-7
Sutton, P. C., & Wieseman, M. E. (1993). The Age of Rubens. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts in association with Ghent.
ISBN 0-8109-1935-4
Vlieghe, Hans (1998). Flemish Art and Architecture, 1585-1700 . Yale University Press Pelican history of art. New Haven:
Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-07038-1

External links

[edit]

Dutch and Flemish paintings from the Hermitage , an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully
available online as PDF)
v t e

Caravaggisti

[show]

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Categories: Caravaggisti Baroque painting Flemish painters Flemish art County of Flanders Western art

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