Jakob Jordaens

Working sometimes as an assistant to the Baroque Master, Peter Paul Rubens (1577 – 1640), Jordaens helped define the emergence of a distinct Flemish painting style. Both Rubens and Jordaens were prominent artists from the city of Antwerp, having both studied with Adam van Noort (1561 – 1641), a dean in the Guild of Saint Luke of Antwerp. Jordaens even went on to marry van Noort’s daughter in 1616, of whom their daughter, Elizabeth, he featured in portraits.

Jordaens started his own workshop around the 1620s, which would later become the most prominent studio after Rubens. His earliest works are noted as soon as 1615, such as a, Self-Portrait among Family and, Portrait of a Young Married Couple. Among several portrait pieces, including his Portrait of a Lady in the Uffizi Gallery, he also painted religious and mythological subjects, did etchings, as well as created designs for tapestries. In 1623, he executed his, Allegory of Fertility, a masterful painting example of the artist at his best. One of his best known later works was, The Triumph of Fredrick Hendrik, commissioned for the Huis ten Bosch (House in the Woods), a royal villa in The Hague.

His style was vibrantly expressive with warm colors, showing a skillful use of contrast with chiaroscuro. His later works were more often subtle and retrained, but throughout his career the works were marked with a sharp Flemish humor. He was well known for his representations of the fable, The Satyr and the Peasant, as well as festive holiday pieces, including The Bean King works, as well as a number of pieces titled, The King Drinks.