Martin van Valckenborch

From a Flemish family of artists, Valckenborch and his brother Lucas van Valckenborch I, were active in the German areas. Their surname is sometimes spelled, Valkenborch or Valkenborgh. Marten Valckenborch’s sons, Frederik (1566 – 1623) and Gillis (1570 – 1622) were also painters, and he is also noted for teaching his other brother Geraard van Valckenborch. Marten is documented in the Guild of Saint Luke of Mechelen in 1559. Also in Antwerp, and he is also documented as being in the Guild of Saint Luke, after some time in Aachen.

There was much standing in the way of an artistic career for Valckenborch, between war and religious persecution. This was also the original reason the Valckenborch family relocated from the Northern Flemish areas into Germany. He eventually reunited with his brother, Lucas, in Frankfurt am Main, opening a workshop together. (Grove Dictionary of Art) Of Valckenborch’s know works is his, Country Dance, from the Medici Collection and now in the Uffizi Gallery. Both Marten and Lucas are noted as significant landscape painters, of which Marten’s son Frederik studied. Though Frederik’s drawing style in figures varied greatly from that of Marten.