Lucas van Uden (18 October 1595 – 4 November 1672) was a leading Flemish

landscape A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or man-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes the ...

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 ...

, draughtsman and engraver, who lived and worked in Antwerp. He was a leading landscape painter who collaborated with various local figure painters. His most original works are his drawings.Hans Devisscher. "Uden, Lucas van." Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. Web. 25 February 2017

Life

Lucas van Uden 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,

as the son of Artus van Uden and Joanna Tranoy. His father was Antwerp's city painter, a position which required him to paint the City's buildings and refurbish and gild the statues of the city and the pieces used in the ommegang. Lucas had a brother Jacob who also became a landscape painter. Lucas likely studied with his father as he was never registered with the

Guild of Saint 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 Evangelist Luke, the patron saint of artists, who was ide ...

as a pupil. He registered only as a master at the Guild in the capacity of a 'wijnmeester' (master's son') in 1626–27 when he was already 32 years old.Frans Jozef Peter Van den Branden, ''Geschiedenis der Antwerpsche schilderschool'', Antwerpen, 1883, pp. 43–45 Lucas van Uden - Winter Landscape with Hunters - WGA23251

Lucas van Uden - Winter Landscape with Hunters - WGA23251

Lucas had an extramarital relationship with Agatha Musson. She gave birth on 24 October 1620 to a son who was named Lucas. On 14 February 1627 Lucas van Uden married Anna van Woelput with whom he had 8 children, two of whom were born before the couple had married. Lucas had another illegitimate child with Willemijntje van den Brande in 1630. He was active in Antwerp for most of his life except for a period around 1649 when he was recorded as no longer living in the city. He was very successful and could live very comfortably in central Antwerp. He was the teacher of Jan Baptist Bonnecroy, Philips Augustijn Immenraet and

Gillis Neyts Gillis Neyts or Aegidius Neyts (1618 or 1623–1678) was a Flemish painter, draughtsman and engraver. He was a landscape artist who is now mainly known for his italianising and topographical drawings of sites throughout the Southern Netherlands. ...

. He likely also trained his children. His daughter Maria van Uden became a painter and married the painter Charles Emmanuel Biset. His son Adriaen was also active in Antwerp as a painter.Lucas van Uden
at the

Netherlands Institute for Art History The Netherlands Institute for Art History or RKD (Dutch: RKD-Nederlands Instituut voor Kunstgeschiedenis), previously Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie (RKD), is located in The Hague and is home to the largest art history center i ...

He died in Antwerp in 1672.

Work

Lucas van Uden was principally a landscape painter. Some of his landscapes were winter landscapes such as the ''Winter Landscape with Hunters'' (private collection). Although he was never part of

Peter Paul Rubens Sir Peter Paul Rubens (; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish artist and diplomat from the Duchy of Brabant in the Southern Netherlands (modern-day Belgium). He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque traditio ...

' studio, his works are partly indebted to that leading Antwerp master. His technique with its attention to detail, particularly in his smaller works, and his search for decorative elements in the larger paintings place him in the same tradition as

Jan Brueghel the Elder Jan Brueghel (also Bruegel or Breughel) the Elder (, ; ; 1568 – 13 January 1625) was a Flemish painter and draughtsman. He was the son of the eminent Flemish Renaissance painter Pieter Bruegel the Elder. A close friend and frequent collaborato ...

and

Joos de Momper Joos de Momper the Younger or Joost de Momper the Younger (1564February5, 1635) was a Flemish landscape painter active in Antwerp between the late 16th century and the early 17th century. Brueghel's influence is clearly evident in many of de Momp ...

. The contrast between areas with dark and cold colours with warm colours in his work also calls to mind the work of

and

.Lucas van Uden
at the Prado General characteristics of is work are a tonally-green recessive view punctuated by slender trees and populated by incidental

pastoral A pastoral lifestyle is that of shepherds herding livestock around open areas of land according to seasons and the changing availability of water and pasture. It lends its name to a genre of literature, art, and music (pastorale) that depicts ...

and

peasant A peasant is a pre-industrial agricultural laborer or a farmer with limited land-ownership, especially one living in the Middle Ages under feudalism and paying rent, tax, fees, or services to a landlord. In Europe, three classes of peasants ...

figures. His compositions are usually built up as follows: in the foreground there is a bank with leafy trees, one of which is inclined in order to break the monotony and lead the view of the spectator towards the center of the composition, in which appear as the main motive groups of trees, fields or villages, which are shown cut out against a background of mountains, lacking any dramatic allusion. Lucas van Uden - Extensive landscape with windmill

Lucas van Uden - Extensive landscape with windmill

While his landscape paintings are rather schematic, his drawings which were reportedly made directly from nature are more spontaneous and realistic and display his true talent. Van Uden is known to have collaborated with

David Teniers the Younger David Teniers the Younger or David Teniers II (bapt. 15 December 1610 – 25 April 1690) was a Flemish Baroque painter, printmaker, draughtsman, miniaturist painter, staffage painter, copyist and art curator. He was an extremely versatile arti ...

and

Jan Brueghel the Younger Jan Brueghel (also Bruegel or Breughel) the Younger (, ; ; 13 September 1601 – 1 September 1678) was a Flemish Baroque painter. He was the son of Jan Brueghel the Elder, and grandson of Pieter Bruegel the Elder, both prominent painters who c ...

who painted the staffage in his landscapes. An example is the ''Villagers having a meal'' (

Prado The Prado Museum ( ; ), officially known as Museo Nacional del Prado, is the main Spanish national art museum An art museum or art gallery is a building or space for the display of art, usually from the museum's own collection. It migh ...

, Madrid), a collaboration with David Teniers the Younger. Van Uden is often associated with fellow landscape painter

Jan Wildens Jan Wildens (1586 in Antwerp – 16 October 1653 in Antwerp) was a Flemish painter and draughtsman specializing in landscapes. His Realist landscapes show an eye for detail and have a serene character. He was a regular collaborator with Rube ...

who frequently collaborated with Rubens. However, unlike for Wildens, there is no evidence van Uden ever painted the landscapes for Rubens. Rubens also never added the staffage to van Uden's landscapes. Van Uden made various copies of Rubens' compositions such as the ''Landscape with a rainbow'' (

Kunsthistorisches Museum The Kunsthistorisches Museum ( "Museum of Art History", often referred to as the "Museum of Fine Arts") is an art museum in Vienna, Austria. Housed in its festive palatial building on the Vienna Ring Road, it is crowned with an octagonal do ...

), which is a copy of Rubens' ''Landscape with a rainbow'' in the Hermitage. Lucas van Uden produced many etchings some of which are part of the collections of the

Rijksmuseum The Rijksmuseum () is the national museum of the Netherlands dedicated to Dutch arts and history and is located in Amsterdam. The museum is located at the Museum Square in the borough of Amsterdam South, close to the Van Gogh Museum, the St ...

and the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

.Lucas van Uden
at the Rijksmuseum Lucas van Uden
at the British Museum Some of his designs were also etched by his pupil Philips Augustijn Immenraet.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Uden, Lucas van Flemish Baroque painters Flemish landscape painters Flemish printmakers Painters from Antwerp 1595 births 1672 deaths