Frans Wouters (1612–1659) was a Flemish Baroque painter who translated the monumental

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

style of

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 ...

into the small context of

cabinet painting A cabinet painting (or cabinet picture) is a small painting, typically no larger than in either dimension, but often much smaller. The term is especially used for paintings that show full-length figures or landscapes at a small scale, rather th ...

s. He was a court painter to the Roman Emperor and the Prince of Wales and was active as an ambassador and art dealer.

Life

Frans Wouters was born in Lier, present-day Belgium. He was first apprenticed to Pieter van Avont 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 ...

in 1629 but broke his contract to move to the workshop of

Rubens Sir Peter Paul Rubens ( ; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish artist and diplomat. He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque tradition. Rubens' highly charged compositions reference erudite aspects of clas ...

in 1634. He became a master in the Guild of St. Luke the following year.Frans Wouters
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 ...

He assisted Rubens in 1635 in the decorations for the

Joyous Entry A Joyous Entry (; ) is a ceremonial event marking the entry into a city by a monarch, prince, duke, or governor in parts of modern-day Belgium. Originating in the Middle Ages, it generally coincided with the affirmation or extension of the city' ...

into Antwerp of the

Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand of Austria Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand (also known as Don Fernando de Austria, Cardenal-Infante Fernando de España and as Ferdinand von Österreich; 16 May 1609 – 9 November 1641) was a Spanish and Portuguese prince (Infante of Spain, Infante of Portugal (u ...

in 1635. Rubens had the overall management of this decorative project which was realized with the assistance of a large number of Antwerp painters such as

Jacob Jordaens Jacques (Jacob) Jordaens (19 May 1593 – 18 October 1678Jacques Jordaens
in the Netherlands Institute for Ar ...

Cornelis de Vos Cornelis de Vos (1584 - 9 May 1651) was a Flemish painter, Drawing, draughtsman and art dealer. He was one of the leading portrait painters in Antwerp and is best known for his sensitive portraits, in particular of children and families. He w ...

Jan Cossiers Jan Cossiers (Antwerp, 15 July 1600 – Antwerp, 4 July 1671) was a Flemish painter and draughtsman. Cossiers' earliest works were Caravaggesque genre works depicting low life scenes. Later in his career he painted mostly history and reli ...

Peter Snayers Peter Snayers or Pieter Snayers (1592–1667) was a Flemish painter known for his panoramic battle scenes, depictions of cavalry skirmishes, attacks on villages, coaches and convoys and hunting scenes. (p. 241-243, v.1; plate 92, v.2)Hans V ...

, Thomas Willeboirts Bosschaert,

Theodoor van Thulden Theodoor van Thulden (1606–12 July 1669) was a Flemish painter, draughtsman and engraver born in 's-Hertogenbosch in the duchy of Brabant. He is mainly known for his altarpieces, mythological subjects, allegorical works and portraits. He was ...

Jan Boeckhorst Jan Boeckhorst or Johann Bockhorst (Münster, c. 1604 – Antwerp, 21 April 1668) was a Germany, German-born Flemish Baroque painter and draughtsman who worked most of his career in Antwerp. He was a versatile artist who produced history pain ...

, Peeter Symons, Jacob Peter Gowy and others, who worked after Rubens'

modello A modello (plural modelli), from Italian, is a preparatory study or model, usually at a smaller scale, for a work of art or architecture, especially one produced for the approval of the commissioning patron. The term gained currency in art circl ...

He spent the 1630s as

court painter A court painter was an artist who painted for the members of a royal or princely family, sometimes on a fixed salary and on an exclusive basis where the artist was not supposed to undertake other work. Painters were the most common, but the cour ...

to Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II. He was sent as an ambassador of Ferdinand II to England in 1637.Franciscus Wouters biography
in ''De groote schouburgh der Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen'' (1718) by

Arnold Houbraken Arnold Houbraken (28 March 1660 – 14 October 1719) was a Dutch people, Dutch Painting, painter and writer from Dordrecht, now remembered mainly as a biographer of Dutch Golden Age painters. Life Houbraken was sent first to learn ''threadt ...

, courtesy of the Digital library for Dutch literature The following year, he became the painter of the Prince of Wales, the future

Charles II of England Charles II (29 May 1630 – 6 February 1685) was King of Scotland from 1649 until 1651 and King of England, Scotland, and King of Ireland, Ireland from the 1660 Restoration of the monarchy until his death in 1685. Charles II was the eldest su ...

. In England, Wouters would certainly have had the opportunity to meet his compatriot

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 ...

, who was at that time the court painter of

Charles I of England Charles I (19 November 1600 – 30 January 1649) was King of Kingdom of England, England, Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland, and Kingdom of Ireland, Ireland from 27 March 1625 until Execution of Charles I, his execution in 1649. Charles was born ...

. Even after his return to Antwerp in 1641 he remained in contact with Charles II during the period of the

English Civil War The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Cavaliers, Royalists and Roundhead, Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. Part of the wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of th ...

and the

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the 15th century. Originally a phrase (the common-wealth ...

. He was described in 1658 as Charles's 'ayuda de cámera' (chamberlain).Karel Frans Wouters (1612-1660)
at the Royal Collection In Antwerp he collaborated again with his former master Pieter van Avont mainly adding landscapes to van Avont's compositions. He became involved in the art market. In this capacity he assisted in the valuation of the paintings in Rubens' estate. His marriage to Maria Doncker, daughter of the treasurer of Antwerp, in 1644 provided him with a substantial fortune. In 1648, he became dean of the Antwerp Guild of St. Luke. He was involved in the sale of the art collection of

George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham ( ; 20 August 1592 – 23 August 1628), was an English courtier, statesman, and patron of the arts. He was a favourite and self-described "lover" of King James VI and I. Buckingham remained at the heigh ...

by the English Parliamentary Commissioners in 1648. At around this time Wouters began to work for

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 then Governor of the Southern Netherlands and an avid art patron and collector.Hans Vlieghe. "Wouters, Frans."
Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. Web. 15 April 2014

Work

Wouters' style and subject matter reflect the taste of his international aristocratic clients who preferred small paintings, decorative landscapes and mythological stories. Other themes appreciated by these patrons were scenes dealing with alchemy, the four elements, Allegories of the Five Senses as well as iconographical themes that allowed for different levels of interpretation based on a number of references and allusions, or devices such as the 'picture within a picture'. An example is the ''Allegory of sight'' (Auctioned at Dorotheum on 19 April 2016 in Vienna, lot 29) where the sense of sight is represented primarily by the woman regarding herself in the mirror. This act also alludes to another theme, that of vanity, which is further evoked by the still life painting on the right. The room with its variety of precious objects, scientific instruments, paintings and sculptures has taken the semblance of a '

cabinet of curiosities Cabinets of curiosities ( and ), also known as wonder-rooms ( ), were encyclopedic collections of objects whose categorical boundaries were, in Renaissance Europe, yet to be defined. Although more rudimentary collections had preceded them, t ...

. The multitude of objects refers to the various forms of visual perception and man's desire to take possession of the things he sees by understanding them. The world map in the foreground further alludes to man's ability to observe and understand distant worlds. In contrast, the monkey in the foreground of the painting is only capable of achieving the lowest, most superficial level of seeing, the staring at things without genuine understanding. Even the use of two pairs of spectacles does not help the poor animal.Frans Wouters, ''An Allegory of Sight''
at Dorotheum His style bore initially a resemblance to the late

Mannerism Mannerism is a style in European art that emerged in the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520, spreading by about 1530 and lasting until about the end of the 16th century in Italy, when the Baroque style largely replaced it ...

of Joos de Momper and was later influenced by Rubens and in particular Rubens' landscape paintings. After entering the service of Archduke Leopold William, Wouters' work demonstrated the increased influence of Anthony van Dyck and the human figures in his paintings became elongated and emotionally expressive. He painted biblical scenes and mythological landscapes in this style.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wouters, Frans 1659 deaths Flemish Baroque painters Flemish history painters Flemish landscape painters People from Lier, Belgium Painters from Antwerp Province 1612 births Painters from Antwerp Flemish court painters Pupils of Peter Paul Rubens