
David Teniers III, also referred to as David Teniers junior (baptized 10 July 1638 – 2 October 1685) was a
Flemish painter and
tapestry
Tapestry is a form of Textile arts, textile art which was traditionally Weaving, woven by hand on a loom. Normally it is used to create images rather than patterns. Tapestry is relatively fragile, and difficult to make, so most historical piece ...
designer who was mainly active in
Antwerp
Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...
, Madrid and Brussels. He is known for his portraits, religious compositions and genre scenes.
[David Teniers (III)]
at the Netherlands Institute for Art History
The Netherlands Institute for Art History or RKD (Dutch: ), previously Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie (RKD), is located in The Hague and is home to the largest art history center in the world. The center specializes in document ...
Life
David Teniers III was born in Antwerp where he was baptized on 10 July in the
St. James' Church. He was a scion of two very prominent artist families from Antwerp: his father was the 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 artist ...
and his mother was Anna Brueghel, the daughter of
Jan Brueghel the Elder
Jan Brueghel (also Bruegel or Breughel) the Elder ( , ; ; 1568 – 13 January 1625) was a Flemish painting, Flemish painter and Draughtsmanship, draughtsman. He was the younger son of the eminent Dutch and Flemish Renaissance painting, Flemish ...
and granddaughter of
Pieter Bruegel the Elder
Pieter Bruegel (also Brueghel or Breughel) the Elder ( , ; ; – 9 September 1569) was among the most significant artists of Dutch and Flemish Renaissance painting, a painter and printmaking, printmaker, known for his landscape art, landscape ...
. His grandfather was the painter
David Teniers the Elder
David Teniers the Elder (158229 July 1649), Flemish painter, was born at Antwerp of a family originally from Ath.
Biography
The Teniers family of painters came from Ath, a town in Hainaut.About his family, see Jules Dewert, ''Origine wall ...
. His father had close links with
Peter Paul Rubens
Sir Peter Paul Rubens ( ; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish painting, Flemish artist and diplomat. He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque painting, Flemish Baroque tradition. Rubens' highly charged comp ...
as is demonstrated by the fact that Rubens' second wife
Helena Fourment
Helena (or Hélène) Fourment (11 April 1614 – 15 July 1673) was the second wife of Baroque painter Peter Paul Rubens. She sat for a few portraits by Rubens, and also modeled for figures in Rubens' religious and mythological paintings.
Family
...
was David III's god-mother.
[David Teniers III]
at the Museo del Prado site

When his father was called to the court in Brussels around 1650 to become court painter to
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, a ...
, the family Teniers moved from Antwerp to Brussels. Originally destined for an ecclesiastical career, David III showed such an aptitude for drawing and painting as a collaborator of his father that he chose to become a painter.
[P. Lambotte, ''David Teniers III'']
in: Biographie Nationale Volume 24, pp. 768–681 David III's mother died on 11 May 1656 and his father remarried on 21 October of the same year to Isabella de Fren, the 32-year-old daughter of Andries de Fren, secretary of the
Council of Brabant
The Council of Brabant was the highest law court in the historic Duchy of Brabant
The Duchy of Brabant, a Imperial State, state of the Holy Roman Empire, was established in 1183. It developed from the Landgraviate of Brabant of 1085–1183, a ...
.
[Frans Jozef Peter Van den Branden, ''Geschiedenis der Antwerpsche schilderschool'', Antwerpen, 1883, pp. 754, 981–1008 ]
His father sent him to Madrid in 1661 with a letter of recommendation from
Luis de Benavides Carrillo, Marquis of Caracena
Luis Francisco de Benavides Carrillo de Toledo, Marquis of Caracena, Marquis of Fromista (20 September 1608 – 6 January 1668) was a Spanish general and political figure. He served as Governor of the Habsburg Netherlands between 1659 and 16 ...
, then governor of the Southern Netherlands.
[ He left on 26 April 1661. He was active in Spain as a designer of cartoons for tapestries and as a portrait painter.][ He remained at the court of ]Philip IV of Spain
Philip IV (, ; 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 for his patronage of the ...
until 1663. The Spanish king bestowed upon him the honorary title of gentleman of the artillery of His Majesty.
Upon his return to Flanders he married Ana María Bonnaerens on 4 August 1671 in Dendermonde
Dendermonde (; , ) is a city in the Flemish Region, Flemish Provinces of Belgium, province of East Flanders in Belgium. The Municipalities of Belgium, municipality comprises the city of Dendermonde and the towns of Appels, Baasrode, Grembergen, M ...
. His wife was from a wealthy bourgeois family from Dendermonde.[ The couple had six children of whom the eldest, David Teniers IV (1672–1731), appears to have been yet another painter in the dynasty. David Teniers III kept a record of his household's incomings and outgoings, which has been preserved and carries the title ''Handtboeck daer in staedt gespecificeert alle goederen ende gronden van erven, renten ende obligatiën, competerende aen d' Heer david teniers ende myne Huysvrouw, J. Anna Maria Bonnarens, die getrouwt zyn den 4. Augustus, 1671'' (Manual in which are specified all assets and funds inheritances, annuities and obligations belonging to Mr. David Teniers and his housewife Anne-Marie Bonnarens, who married
on 4 August 1671). It contains information about the household of the artist, which has been helpful in establishing some of the facts of his life.][Alphonse Wauters, ''David Teniers et son fils, le troisième du nom'']
in: 10 Annales de la Société d'Archéologie de Bruxelles t. XI, p. 13, 1897
He initially stayed at his father's country estate and collaborated with his father on various projects. He seems to have been unhappy with his share in the payments received for some of their collaborative works.[ After settling in Brussels in 1675, he entered the local ]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 iden ...
.[ He received Flemish as well as Spanish pupils including Frans Jochin, Lodewyk van der Vinne, Cascarillo and Jan van Diest.][Christiaan Kramm, ''De levens en werken der Hollandsche en Vlaamsche kunstschilders, beeldhouwers, graveurs en bouwmeesters, van den vroegsten tot op onzen tijd'']
1857, pp. 145–147
He died in Brussels on 2 October 1685.[
]
Work
David Teniers III painted portraits, genre scenes and religious compositions. He is stylistically close to the elegance of Anthony van Dyck
Sir Anthony van Dyck (; ; 22 March 1599 – 9 December 1641) was a Flemish Baroque painting, Flemish Baroque artist who became the leading court painter in England after success in the Spanish Netherlands and Italy.
The seventh child of ...
or Gonzales Coques
Gonzales Coques (between 1614 and 1618 – 18 April 1684) was a Flemish painter of portraits and history paintings.Veronique van Passel, "Coques ocks; Cox Gonzales onsael; Gonsalo, ''Grove Art Online''. Oxford University Press, [accessed ...
but remained thematically closer to the genre scenes painted by his father and grandfather.[
David Teniers III was also sought after as a designer of tapestries. His main contribution here is the cartoons for genre scenes executed in the family tradition for tapestries, which were woven in the workshops of Brussels and Lille.
The Museo del Prado holds a series of works that have been attributed to him as well as several signed copies realized in 1673 after sketches of Rubens for a series of tapestries destined for the Monastery of the Convent of Las Descalzas Reales in Madrid.][
]
Notes
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Teniers, David, 3
1638 births
1685 deaths
Flemish genre painters
Flemish portrait painters
Flemish tapestry artists
Artists from Antwerp
Painters from Brussels