FRANS POURBUS THE YOUNGER (1570-1622) Portrait of Guillaume du Vair (1616-1620) Oil on canvas (61 x 51 cm) Musée du Louvre To enlarge the picture, click on it and open it in a new window Some painters escape a clear categorisation; this is due to the fact that their works show an uneven quality that …
Category: Flemish Artists
The handsome Agostino
JACOB FERDINAND VOET (1639-1689) Agostino Chigi, Principe di Farnese (c.1670) Oil on canvas (size unknown, probably 76 x 62 cm) Museum of Fine Arts and Lace, Alençon, France To enlarge the pictures, right-click on them and choose "Open in a new tab" When you look at a portrait by Jacob Ferdinand Voet, chances are that …
Triple Portrait of Charles I
ANTON VAN DYCK (1599-1641) Triple portrait of Charles I (1635-36) Oil on canvas (84.5 x 99.5 cm) Royal Collection, Windsor Castle (To enlarge the picture, right-click on it and choose "Open in a new tab") The painting was probably begun in the second half of 1635. In his letter to Lorenzo Bernini of 17 March …
Sportsmen in a Landscape
PAUL BRIL (c. 1554-1626) A Wooded Landscape with a Bridge and Sportsmen at the Edge of the River Oil on canvas (86.5 x 66 cm) Private Collection The most influential Italianate landscape painter of his time, Paul Bril was born in Breda c.1554. He trained in Antwerp with Damiaen Ortelmans and, only 14 years old, …
Portrait of Gaspard Schoppius
PETER PAUL RUBENS (1577-1640) Portrait of Gaspard Schoppius (c. 1604-05) Oil on canvas (116 x 88 cm) Palazzo Pitti, Florence To enlarge the picture, right-click on it, then "Open in a new tab" This portrait has only recently received acceptance as an early work by Rubens, and this attribution, together with the painting's resemblance to an …
The Death of Seneca
PETER PAUL RUBENS (1577-1640) The Death of Seneca (c. 1516) Oil on canvas (181 x 120 cm) Museo del Prado, Madrid To enlarge the picture, right-click on it, then "Open in a new tab" This painting is a simplified version of a striking picture now in the Alte Pinakothek in Munich, a work in which …
Rubens’ Self-Portrait
PETER PAUL RUBENS (1577-1640) Self-Portrait (1622) Oil on canvas (80 x 60 cm) Australian National Gallery, Canberra To enlarge the picture, right-click on it, then "Open in a new tab" This self-portrait was painted by Rubens in 1622 as a present for his friend, the lawyer and collector Nicolas Claude Fabri de Peiresec (1580-1637). Rubens did …
Thomas Howard, 2nd Earl of Arundel
PETER PAUL RUBENS (1577-1640) Thomas Howard, 2nd Earl of Arundel (c. 1629) Oil on canvas (67 x 54 cm) National Gallery, London To enlarge the picture, right-click on it, then "Open in a new tab" Within the different genres covered by the Old Masters, portraiture is my favourite. In the hands of its finest practitioners …
The Entombment
PETER PAUL RUBENS (1577-1640) The Entombment (c.1612) Oil on canvas (131 x 130 cm) Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles To enlarge the picture, right-click on it and "Open in a new tab" Recognized as the greatest painter of his day, Rubens received commissions from all over Europe and created profound, original statements of virtually every …
Portrait of a Woman
ANTON VAN DYCK (1599-1641) Portrait of a woman (c. 1634-35) Oil on canvas (208 x 118 cm) Windsor Castle, Royal Collection Born in Antwerp, Anton van Dyck was a pupil of Rubens and as such he distinguished himself very early. An early visit to London in 1620-21 during the reign of James I was short-lived …
Old Masters 