''The Archduke Leopold Wilhelm in his Painting Gallery in Brussels'' is a 1651 painting of

Archduke Leopold Wilhelm Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria (5 January 1614 – 20 November 1662), younger brother of Emperor Ferdinand III, was an Austrian soldier, administrator and patron of the arts. He held a number of military commands, with limited success, and ...

's Italian art collection by the Flemish Baroque painter

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 ...

, now held in the

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 Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

.P01813
in the

collection

Description

The painting shows the Archduke as a collector with friends admiring a set of paintings. The artist himself is standing at a table inspecting engravings. The paintings are arranged in rows on rear walls, with more visible through a central doorway, and a set that are positioned in the foreground leaning against chairs for inspection.

History

This painting is one of a set that

prepared to document the Archduke's collection before he employed 12 engravers to publish his ''

Theatrum Pictorium ''Theatrum Pictorium'', or ''Theatre of Painting'', is a short-hand name of a book published in the 1660s by David Teniers the Younger for his employer, the Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria. It was a catalog of 243 Italian paintings in the Ar ...

'', considered the "first illustrated art catalog". He published this book of engravings after the Archduke had moved to Austria and taken his collection with him. It was published in Antwerp in 1659 and again in 1673.Online version
of the

, 1673 The Archduke commissioned this painting as a gift for

Philip IV of Spain Philip IV ( es, Felipe, pt, Filipe; 8 April 160517 September 1665), also called the Planet King (Spanish: ''Rey Planeta''), was King of Spain from 1621 to his death and (as Philip III) King of Portugal from 1621 to 1640. Philip is remembered f ...

, possibly to show off the magnificence of his Brussels gallery after his recent Italian painting acquisitions from the estate sale of the

Duke of Hamilton Duke of Hamilton is a title in the Peerage of Scotland, created in April 1643. It is the senior dukedom in that peerage (except for the Dukedom of Rothesay held by the Sovereign's eldest son), and as such its holder is the premier peer of Sco ...

List of paintings depicted

The following is a list of the recognizable paintings of the collection, not all of which were included in the Italian catalog prepared by Teniers, which was a selection of 243 of the most prized paintings out of a collection of 1300-1400 pieces. Many are still in the Viennese collection. Here is a list of the paintings depicted, which starts with the paintings on the rear wall, running from left to right and from top to bottom. Next listed are the paintings in the foreground propped against chairs:

References

David Teniers and the Theatre of Painting
exhibition 19 October 2006 to 21 January 2007 on website of the

Courtauld Institute of Art The Courtauld Institute of Art (), commonly referred to as The Courtauld, is a self-governing college of the University of London specialising in the study of the history of art and conservation. It is among the most prestigious specialist coll ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Archduke Leopold Wilhelm in his Painting Gallery in Brussels 1650s paintings 17th-century paintings Paintings of the Museo del Prado by Flemish artists Paintings in the collection of the Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria Paintings of art galleries Paintings by David Teniers the Younger Dogs in art