Alexander Adriaenssen - Still life with artichokes in a silver gilt wine cistern and other silver objects

Alexander Adriaenssen (1587 in

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

– 1661 in Antwerp) was a

Flemish Flemish (''Vlaams'') is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Dutch ( ), or Southern Dutch (). Flemish is native to Flanders, a historical region in northern Belgium; ...

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

, particularly known for his

still-life A still life (plural: still lifes) is a work of art depicting mostly inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which are either natural (food, flowers, dead animals, plants, rocks, shells, etc.) or man-made (drinking glasses, boo ...

s of fish and game pieces. He also painted banquet pieces with food and flower still lifes."Alexander Adriaenssen"
at the Netherlands Institute for Art History

Life

Alexander Adriaenssen was born in

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

, the son of the famous Antwerp composer and lute player Emmanuel Adriaenssen and Sibilla Crelin. He was baptised on 17 January 1587 in the

St. James' Church, Antwerp St. James' Church ( nl, Sint-Jacobskerk) is a former Collegiate church in Antwerp, Belgium. The church is built on the site of a hostel for pilgrims to Santiago de Compostela. The present building is the work of the Waghemakere family and Rombo ...

. His younger brother

Vincent Vincent ( la, Vincentius) is a male given name derived from the Roman name Vincentius, which is derived from the Latin word (''to conquer''). People with the given name Artists *Vincent Apap (1909–2003), Maltese sculptor *Vincent van Gogh ...

became a battle painter.Frans Jozef Peter Van den Branden, ''Geschiedenis der Antwerpsche schilderschool'', Antwerpen, 1883, pp. 656–657 Another younger brother called Niclaes became a portrait painter and would in 1612 emigrate with his widowed mother to

Haarlem Haarlem (; predecessor of ''Harlem'' in English) is a city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of North Holland. Haarlem is situated at the northern edge of the Randstad, one of the most populated metropoli ...

. "Niclaes Adriaenssen"
at the Netherlands Institute for Art History Alexander was registered as the pupil of Artus van Laeck in 1597. In 1610 he became a master of the

Guild of St. Luke The Guild of Saint Luke was the most common name for a city guild for painters and other artists in early modern Europe, especially in the Low Countries. They were named in honor of the Four Evangelists, Evangelist Saint Luke, Luke, the patron sa ...

of Antwerp. As he had trained particularly in the art of painting coats of arms on parchment, he was registered as a water colour painter. He soon became skilled in painting with oil and specialized in still lifes. He was able to build his reputation with these works. Rubens was an admirer and bought two of Adriaenssen's works for his collection.

Anthony van Dyck Sir Anthony van Dyck (, many variant spellings; 22 March 1599 – 9 December 1641) was a Brabantian Flemish Baroque artist who became the leading court painter in England after success in the Southern Netherlands and Italy. The seventh c ...

also appreciated the artist's output and painted his portrait, which was engraved by

Antony van der Does Antoon van der Does or Antoni van der Does (1609 in Antwerp – 1680 in Antwerp) was a Flemish engraver and print maker who was active in Antwerp. He is mainly known as a reproductive artist.Peter Snayers was the godfather of one and Isabella Brandt, Rubens' first wife, the godmother of another. When his brother Niclaes returned from Holland in 1616 he took up residence with Alexander. Alexander Adriaenssen - Still Life with Flowers in a Glass Vase

Alexander Adriaenssen - Still Life with Flowers in a Glass Vase

In 1632 Philips Milcx became his pupil. Adriaenssen was one of the artists working on the decorations for the Joyous Entry into Antwerp of the new governor of the Habsburg Netherlands

Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand (also known as Don Fernando de Austria, Cardenal-Infante Fernando de España and as Ferdinand von Österreich; May 1609 or 1610 – 9 November 1641) was Governor of the Spanish Netherlands, Cardinal of the Holy Catholic ...

in 1635. Rubens was in overall charge of this project. For this project, Adriaenssen painted the coats of arms of the 17 provinces on the triumphal arches in honour of the new governor.J.J. Pérez Preciado, ''Alexander van Adrianssen''
in: Enciclopedia Museo Nacional del Prado Adriaenssen paid his dues of the

each year until 1633. He lived in Antwerp's centre on De Wapper, near Rubens. He died in his house in 1661 and was buried on 30 October 1661 in the

Work

Alexander Adriaenssen was known for his still lifes of fruit and fish. He also painted game pieces and four flower pieces. Flower pieces regularly appear in his banquet style still lifes. Works by him survive with dates from 1623 to 1661, but the peak of his career was approximately 1630–1650.Hans Vlieghe, ''Flemish Art and Architecture, 1585–1700'', Yale University Press Pelican history of art, New Haven, Connecticut: Yale, 1998,
p. 219
The signature "A. Neck" on one oil painting is probably a badly preserved instance of Adriaenssen's signature. Alexander Adriaenssen was influenced in his still-life motifs by Frans Snyders and as a result his still lifes often included artichokes, poultry and live cats. Alexander Adriaenssen also produced ''

pronkstilleven ''Pronkstilleven'' (Dutch for 'ostentatious', 'ornate' or 'sumptuous' still life) is a style of ornate still life painting, which was developed in the 1640s in Antwerp from where it spread quickly to the Dutch Republic. Development Flemish art ...

s'' (ostentatious still lifes) with expensive glasses and dishware. The subgenre of pronkstillevens was developed in Antwerp during the 1640s. Adriaenssen is known particularly for his renderings of raw fish, a common topic of Dutch still-life painters which he portrayed in more than 60 works, more than any other artist in 17th-century Antwerp. Many of his fish still lifes were relatively small and inexpensive works.54: ''Sea Fish and Oysters'', Berger Hochstrasse, p. 198. Stylistically, he was influenced by the school of

. His compositions are characterised by an asymmetrical diagonal layout—a triangle standing on end flanked by ellipses—with objects overlapping over multiple planes for greater depth. He used a sober palette, which tended to the monochrome. An important feature of his work was also its purity of colour.Jay Jacobs, ''The Encyclopedia of World Art'', London: Octopus, 1975, .

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Adriaenssen, Alexander Flemish Baroque painters Flemish still life painters 1587 births 1661 deaths Painters from Antwerp

Life

Work

References

Further reading

External links