Abraham Teniers (1 March 1629 – 26 September 1670) was a Flemish painter and engraver who specialized in

genre paintings Genre painting (or petit genre), a form of genre art, depicts aspects of everyday life by portraying ordinary people engaged in common activities. One common definition of a genre scene is that it shows figures to whom no identity can be attached ...

of villages, inns and monkey scenes. He was a member of artist family Teniers which came to prominence in the 17th century. He was also active as a publisher.Abraham Teniers
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 ...

Life

Abraham Teniers - Doedelzak spelende boer in een landschap

Abraham Teniers was born in Antwerp where he was baptized on 1 March 1629. He was the son of the prominent genre painter

David Teniers the Elder David Teniers the Elder (158229 July 1649), Flemish painter, was born at Antwerp. Biography Having received his first training in the painter's art from his brother Juliaen, he studied under Rubens in Antwerp, and subsequently under Elshei ...

and Dymphna Cornelisse de Wilde (also called 'Dymphna Hendrikx').Ph. Rombouts and Th. van Lerius, ''De liggeren en andere historische archieven der Antwerpsche sint Lucasgilde, van 1453-1615'', Volume 2, Antwerp, 1872-1876, p. 166 John (Maria Huibert) Vermoelen, ''Notes historiques sur David Teniers et sa famille'', J.-B. Dumoulin, Paris, 1870, p. 12 Three of his brothers were also painters: David the Younger (1610–90) who became the most successful of the Teniers painting dynasty, Juliaan III (1616–79) and Theodoor (1619–97). Abraham Teniers - Rural Feast

Abraham Teniers likely trained with his father and older brother David.Biography of Abraham Teniers
at the Museo del Prado site He was admitted as a 'wijnmeester' (i.e. son of a master) in the Antwerp

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 ...

in 1646. Abraham married Isabelle de Roore on 16 July 1644. He was a captain of the local

schutterij Schutterij () refers to a voluntary city guard or citizen militia in the medieval and early modern Netherlands, intended to protect the town or city from attack and act in case of revolt or fire. Their training grounds were often on open spaces w ...

(civil militia) of Antwerp. He was active in the local

chamber of rhetoric Chambers of rhetoric ( nl, rederijkerskamers) were dramatic societies in the Low Countries. Their members were called Rederijkers (singular Rederijker), from the French word 'rhétoricien', and during the 15th and 16th centuries were mainly inte ...

called the '

Olyftack De Olijftak (The Olive Branch), or in full (Confraternity of the Holy Spirit called the Olive Branch) was a chamber of rhetoric that dates back to the early 16th century in Antwerp, when it was a social drama society drawing its membership primari ...

' ('Olive branch') where he was received as a captain in 1660. In the Guild year 1661-62 Franciscus Bock was registered as his pupil. Like his brother David before him, Abraham found appreciation at the court in Brussels and the art-loving

Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria 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, an ...

– then the governor of the Southern Netherlands and a resident of Brussels – appointed him as court painter. Abraham died in Antwerp.

Work

Abraham Teniers - Drinkend en rokend gezelschap in een kroeg

General

Abraham Teniers is mainly known for his genre scenes which depict themes and are executed in a style not dissimilar to those of his father and brother David who are his presumed teachers. His favorite subjects were villages with peasant dancing or playing music, inns with peasants indulging in drink, food and smoking and monkey scenes.

Guardroom Scenes

If the attributions by the

Prado Museum The Prado Museum ( ; ), officially known as Museo Nacional del Prado, is the main Spanish national art museum, located in central Madrid. It is widely considered to house one of the world's finest collections of European art, dating from the ...

are correct, Abraham painted two ''Guardroom Scenes'' now held in the collection of the Prado Museum. A guardroom scene is a type of genre scene that became popular in the mid-17th century, particularly in the

Dutch Republic The United Provinces of the Netherlands, also known as the (Seven) United Provinces, officially as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands (Dutch: ''Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Nederlanden''), and commonly referred to in historiography ...

. In Flanders there were also a few practitioners of the genre including David Teniers the Younger,

Anton Goubau Anton Goubau or Anton Goebouw (1616 in Antwerp – 1698 in Antwerp) was a Flemish Baroque painter. He spent time in Rome where he moved in the circle of the Bamboccianti, Dutch and Flemish genre painters who created small cabinet paintings of th ...

Cornelis Mahu Cornelis Mahu (1613 – 16 November 1689) was a Flemish painter of still lifes, genre paintings and seascapes who showed a very high level of craftsmanship in his compositions. Life Mahu was born in Antwerp. Nothing is known about his train ...

and

Jan Baptist Tijssens the Younger Jan Baptist Tijssens the Younger (1660–1723) was a Flemish painter mainly known for his 'guardroom scenes' and still lifes. A guardroom scene typically depicts an interior scene with officers and soldiers engaged in merrymaking. Guardroom scenes often included mercenaries and prostitutes dividing booty, harassing captives or indulging in other forms of reprehensible activities. The first '' Guardroom Scene'' attributed to Abraham Teniers depicts a guardroom with a black servant and a pile of weapons, a saddle and a war standard in the foreground and some soldiers gathering around a fire in the background. In the second '' Guardroom Scene'' attributed to Abraham Teniers the guardroom is dominated by the jumble of disjointed metal armours, breast plates, a drum, weaponry and helmets in the foreground while the peasant soldiers smoking a pipe or drinking in front of a fireplace are kept in the shadows in the background of the picture. The armour depicted in the two pictures was already out of date at the time it was painted since metal armours, breast plates and helmets fell out of use from the 1620s. It is possible that in line with the moralizing intent of the genre, the armour is a reference to the

vanitas A ''vanitas'' (Latin for 'vanity') is a symbolic work of art showing the temporality, transience of life, the futility of pleasure, and the certainty of death, often contrasting symbols of wealth and symbols of ephemerality and death. Best-kn ...

motif of the transience of power and fame. Abraham Teniers - Kaartspelende apen

Abraham Teniers combined the genres of singerie and guardroom scene in the composition ''Singerie in a Guardroom'' now in the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium.

Singeries

Abraham Teniers contributed to the spread of the genre of the 'monkey scene', also called 'singerie' (a word, which in French means a 'comical grimace, behaviour or trick'). Comical scenes with monkeys appearing in human attire and a human environment are a pictorial genre that was initiated in Flemish painting in the 16th century and was subsequently further developed in the 17th century. The Flemish engraver Pieter van der Borcht introduced the singerie as an independent theme around 1575 in a series of prints, which are strongly embedded in the artistic tradition of Pieter Bruegel the Elder. These prints were widely disseminated and the theme was then picked up by other Flemish artists in particular by those in Antwerp such as

Frans Francken the Younger Frans Francken the Younger (1581 in Antwerp, 1581 – 6 May 1642, in Antwerp) was a Flemish painter who created altarpieces and furniture panels and gained his reputation chiefly through his small and delicate cabinet pictures with historical, m ...

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 collabora ...

and the Younger,

Sebastiaen Vrancx Sebastiaen Vrancx, Sebastiaan Vrancx or Sebastian Vranckx (; 22 January 1573 – 19 May 1647) was a Flemish Baroque painter, draughtsman and designer of prints who is mainly known for his battle scenes, a genre that he pioneered in Netherlandish ...

and

Jan van Kessel the Elder Jan van Kessel the Elder or Jan van Kessel (I) (baptized 5 April 1626, Antwerp – 17 April 1679, Antwerp) was a Flemish painter active in Antwerp in the mid 17th century. A versatile artist he practised in many genres including studies of i ...

. David Teniers the Younger became the principal practitioner of the genre and developed it further with his younger brother Abraham. The two brothers were able to cater to the prevailing taste in the art market and were thus instrumental in spreading the genre outside Flanders. Later in the 17th century artists like Nicolaes van Verendael, principally known as a painter of flower still lifes started to paint 'monkey scenes' as well.

Engravings

Abraham Teniers was a skilled engraver and is known for his engravings made principally after works of his brother David. An example is the engraving by Abraham of the '' Village Fair'' after a design by David.

Publishing

Abraham Teniers was further active as a publisher. He was responsible for the publication of the '' Theatrum Pictorium'' ('Theatre of Paintings'), the project initiated by his brother David to make a set of engravings of the entire art collection of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm. As the director of the Archduke's art collection, David had initially conceived this plan but ultimately only a series of 246 plates was produced by several engravers (243 of these represented about half of the Italian paintings then owned by the Archduke). Abraham Teniers published the first edition in 1658 as loose leaves and unnumbered. Abraham also published prints made by various engravers after the work of his brother David.Abraham Teniers
at the British Museum

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Teniers, Abraham Flemish Baroque painters Flemish genre painters Flemish landscape painters Flemish engravers Flemish publishers Painters from Antwerp 1629 births 1670 deaths Sibling artists