Philip Fruytiers (1610–1666) 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 painter and engraver. Until the 1960s, he was especially known for his miniature portraits in watercolor and

gouache Gouache (; ), body color, or opaque watercolor is a water-medium paint consisting of natural pigment, water, a binding agent (usually gum arabic or dextrin), and sometimes additional inert material. Gouache is designed to be opaque. Gouache ...

. Since then, several large canvases signed with the monogram PHF have been ascribed to him.Baudouin, Frans,: 'Een Antwerps schilder uit Rubens' omgeving: Philip Fruytiers, de monogrammist PHF', Jaarboek Koninklijk Museum voor Schone kunsten (1967), pp. 151–85 en Baudouin, Frans, 'Nog een toeschrijving aan Philip Fruytiers', Bulletin des Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, (1968), pp. 161–9 These new findings have led to a renewed appreciation for his contribution to the Antwerp Baroque.Frans Baudouin. "Fruytiers, Philip."
Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. Web. 24 September 2020

Life

Details about his life are scarce. He was born in Antwerp on 10 January 1610 as the son of Jan Fruytiers and Catherina Vervloet. He is listed as a pupil at the Jesuit college in Antwerp in 1627. He contributed texts in Latin, French and Dutch to an emblem book published in 1627 by that college at the

Joannes Cnobbaert Jan or Joannes Cnobbaert (1590–1637) was a Flemish printer, publisher and bookseller who was active in Antwerp in the early 17th century. Life Cnobbaert was born in Antwerp in 1590. He married Maria de Man.Philips van Mallery.Ph. Rombouts and Th. van Lerius, ''De Liggeren en andere Historische Archieven der Antwerpsche Sint Lucasgilde, onder Zinkspreuk: "Wy Jonsten Versaemt" afgeschreven en bemerkt door Ph. Rombouts en Th. Van Lerius, Advokaet, onder de bescherming van den raed van bestuer der koninklyke Akademie van beeldende Kunsten, van gezegde Stad''
Volume 2, Antwerp, 1872, pp. 24, 25, 31 No information about his artistic training is available. He became a master of 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 the guild year 1631–32.Philip Fruytiers
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 is described in the register of the Guild as an illuminator, painter and engraver. Between September 1630 and 18 October 1665 he was very active in the 'Sodaliteit van de Bejaerde Jongmans', a fraternity for bachelors established by the Jesuit order. Philip Fruytiers - The four children of Rubens and Helena Fourment with maids

Philip Fruytiers - The four children of Rubens and Helena Fourment with maids

He was the teacher of Ambrosius Gast (II), Gualterus Gysaerts, Franciscus Fruytiers, Adrian Cockx (1649–50), Wauter Gyssels (1662–63) and Gregoris de Vos (1663–64). He died in Antwerp on 19 June 1666 and was buried on 21 June.

Work

Philip Fruytiers was until the middle of the 20th century mainly known as a miniature painter and portraitist who worked in watercolor and gouache. A portrait of a ''Family on a Terrace'' signed and dated 1638 (Cambi auction in Genoa of 30 June 2020 lot 114) shows a family in an outdoor setting with an artist drawing in a sketchbook. This may be a self-portrait of Fruytiers. His most famous miniature depicts Rubens' four children, his second wife

Helena Fourment Helena Fourment or Hélène Fourment (11 April 1614 – 15 July 1673) was the second wife of Baroque painter Peter Paul Rubens. She was the subject of a few portraits by Rubens, and also modeled for other religious and mythological paintings. Fam ...

and two servants date 1638 ( Royal Collection,

Windsor Castle Windsor Castle is a royal residence at Windsor in the English county of Berkshire. It is strongly associated with the English and succeeding British royal family, and embodies almost a millennium of architectural history. The original c ...

). This miniature is probably the portrait listed in the inventory of the estate of Rubens in 1641 and on which at that time the price of the frame and glass was still outstanding. Fruytiers also painted large portraits like that of David Teniers the Younger and group or family portraits such as that of the three children of Rubens.Philip Fruytiers, ''Portrait of David Teniers''
at Sotheby's Godefridus Wendelinus by Philip Fruytiers (1648)

Godefridus Wendelinus by Philip Fruytiers (1648)

The accepted view of Philip Fruytiers as principally a miniaturist and watercolorist was based partially on the descriptions in the early biographical works by

Cornelis de Bie Cornelis de Bie (10 February 1627 – ) was a Flemish ''rederijker'', poet, jurist and minor politician from Lier. He is the author of about 64 works, mostly comedies. He is known internationally today for his biographical sketches of Flemish a ...

and Arnold Houbraken.Philip Fruytiers Biography
in Arnold Houbraken, ''De groote schouburgh der Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen''], 1718 Although Cornelis de Bie mentioned that Fruytiers also painted altarpieces, the only known works by his hand until the 1960s were works on paper or vellum. As a result, the established view about the nature of his work was not challenged. In the 1960s this view had to be revised, however, when three large paintings of saints dated 1652 with the monogram "PHF" (in the

Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp The Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp ( Dutch: ''Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten Antwerpen'', ''KMSKA'') is a museum in Antwerp, Belgium, founded in 1810, that houses a collection of paintings, sculptures and drawings from the fourteenth ...

), which were previously attributed to a hypothetical painter PH Franck, were identified as being by the hand of Fruytiers. The same signature was subsequently discovered on another altarpiece in the parish church in

Zundert Zundert () is a municipality and town in the south of the Netherlands bordering Belgium, in the province of North Brabant. Zundert is the birthplace of post-impressionist painter Vincent van Gogh. History The name of Zundert is first mentione ...

North Brabant North Brabant ( nl, Noord-Brabant ; Brabantian: ; ), also unofficially called Brabant, is a province in the south of the Netherlands. It borders the provinces of South Holland and Gelderland to the north, Limburg to the east, Zeeland to the w ...

, which had been purchased from the inventory of the dissolved Antwerp St Michael's Abbey in 1802.St. Trudokerk
at Trudo Zundert This led to the attribution to Fruytiers of other paintings in collections of the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

, the

and the Museo del Prado in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...

, and in the parish church of

Gistel Gistel () is a city and municipality located in the Belgian province of West Flanders. Following local government boundary reforms in 1971 and 1977, the municipality has comprised not only Gistel, but also the towns of Moere, Snaaskerke and Ze ...

West Flanders ) , settlement_type = Province of Belgium , image_flag = Flag of West Flanders.svg , flag_size = , image_shield = Wapen van West-Vlaanderen.svg , shield_size = , image_map ...

. Drawings for some of his altarpieces are kept in the

Plantin-Moretus Museum The Plantin-Moretus Museum ( nl, Plantin-Moretusmuseum) is a printing museum in Antwerp, Belgium which focuses on the work of the 16th-century printers Christophe Plantin and Jan Moretus. It is located in their former residence and printing esta ...

in Antwerp, the

Yale University Art Gallery The Yale University Art Gallery (YUAG) is the oldest university art museum in the Western Hemisphere. It houses a major encyclopedic collection of art in several interconnected buildings on the campus of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. ...

and the

Kupferstichkabinett Berlin The Kupferstichkabinett, or Museum of Prints and Drawings, is a prints museum in Berlin, Germany. It is part of the Berlin State Museums, and is located in the Kulturforum on Potsdamer Platz. It is the largest museum of graphic art in Germany, ...

Fruytiers' style is generally much closer to the refinement and delicacy of Anthony van Dyck than to the more monumental art of Rubens. An expressive portrait drawing of the Jesuit Jan de Tollenaere (Johannes Tollenarius) ( Morgan Library & Museum) was a study for an engraving made by

Jacob Neefs Jacob Neefs or Jacob Neeffs ( Antwerp, 1610 – Antwerp, after 1660) was a Flemish etcher, engraver and publisher. He worked on publication projects for prominent Flemish artists of his time including Rubens, van Dyck and Jordaens. Life Jacob N ...

. Fruytiers was an accomplished engraver and produced several portrait etchings such as those of the Capuchin Innocentius de Caltagirone and the Flemish mathematician and astronomer Govaert Wendelen. He made designs for the frontispiece and illustrations for devotional books and other religious prints by Antwerp engravers such as

Cornelis Galle the Younger Cornelis Galle the Younger, Cornelius Galle or Cornelis Galle (I) (bapt. 23 February 1615, Antwerp – 18 October 1678, Antwerp) was a Flemish printmaker. He worked mainly on publications for the Plantin Press in Antwerp for which he engraved de ...

and Conraad Lauwers. One of his outstanding designs of a frontispiece is that for the ''Imago primi saeculi Societatis Iesu a Provincia Flandro-Belgica eiusdem Societatis repraesentata'', a book written by

Jean Bolland Jean Bolland ( la, Johannes Bollandus) (13 August 1596 – 12 September 1665) was a Jesuit priest, theologian, and prominent Flemish hagiographer. Bolland's main achievement is the compilation of the first five volumes of the ''Lives of th ...

and

Godfrey Henschen Godfrey Henschen (also ''Henskens'' or ''Godefridus Henschenius'' in Latin), 21 June 1601 – 11 September 1681, was a Jesuit hagiographer, one of the first Bollandists, from the Spanish Netherlands. Life Henschen was born at Venray, Limbu ...

was printed by

Balthasar I Moretus Balthasar Moretus or Balthasar I Moretus (23 July 1574 – 6 July 1641) was a Flemish printer and head of the Officina Plantiniana, the printing company established by his grandfather Christophe Plantin in Antwerp in 1555. He was the son of Marti ...

at the Plantin Moretus press in Antwerp in 1640. The design which was engraved by

Cornelis Galle the Elder Cornelis Galle the Elder (1576 – 29 March 1650), a younger son of Philip Galle, was born at Antwerp in 1576, and was taught engraving by his father. He followed the example of his brother Theodoor in visiting Rome, where he resided for several ...

.''Imago primi sæcvli Societatis Iesv a provincia Flandro-Belgica eivsdem societatis representata ''
at archive.org

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fruytiers, Philip 1627 births 1666 deaths Flemish Baroque painters Flemish portrait painters Flemish history painters 17th-century engravers Flemish engravers Artists from Antwerp Painters from Antwerp