Justus Sustermans, Joost Sustermans or Suttermans, his given name Italianised to Giusto (28September 159723April 1681), was a

Flemish Flemish may refer to: * Flemish, adjective for Flanders, Belgium * Flemish region, one of the three regions of Belgium *Flemish Community, one of the three constitutionally defined language communities of Belgium * Flemish dialects, a Dutch dialec ...

painter and draughtsman who is mainly known for his portraits. He also painted history and genre paintings, still lifes and animals.Justus Sustermans
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 ...

Sustermans is chiefly noted for his portraits of members of the

Medici family The House of Medici ( , ; ) was an Italian banking family and political dynasty that first consolidated power in the Republic of Florence under Cosimo de' Medici and his grandson Lorenzo "the Magnificent" during the first half of the 15th ...

as he was its

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 ...

. The Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II invited him to Vienna to paint portraits of the Imperial family and granted Sustermans and his brothers patents of nobility. (p. 249–254, v.1; plate 94–96, v.2) During his lifetime he was fêted as the finest portrait painter in Italy.Lisa Goldenberg Stoppato, ''Suttermans (Susterman; Sustermans; Sutterman), Giusto''
at Grove Art Online

Life

Justus Sustermans was born 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 ...

as the son of the tailor Frans Suttermans or Sustermans, originally from Bruges, and Esther Scheepmans. Justus was baptised in the

Antwerp Cathedral The Cathedral of Our Lady () is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Antwerp, Belgium. Today's seat of the Diocese of Antwerp started in 1352 and, although the first stage of construction was ended in 1521, has never been 'completed'. It was construct ...

on 28 September 1597.Frans Jozef Peter Van den Branden, ''Geschiedenis der Antwerpsche schilderschool'', Antwerpen, 1883, pp. 960–962 He was in 1609 registered as a pupil of Willem (or Gilliam) de Vos (a nephew of the painter Maerten de Vos) at 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 iden ...

.Ph. Rombouts and Th. van Lerius, ''De liggeren en andere historische archieven der Antwerpsche sint Lucasgilde van 1453–1615''
J. E. Buschmann, Antwerp, 1872–1876, p. 457 He left Antwerp for Paris in 1616, where he spent about two years in the workshop of

Frans Pourbus the Younger Frans Pourbus the Younger or Frans Pourbus (II) (Antwerp, 1569 – Paris, 1622)Frans Pourbus (II)
at the Justus Sustermans
in the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue When

Cosimo II de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany Cosimo II de' Medici (12 May 1590 – 28 February 1621) was Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1609 until his death. He was the elder son of Ferdinando I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, and Christina of Lorraine. For the majority of his 12-year rei ...

invited in 1620 a team of Flemish and French tapestry weavers from Paris to Tuscany, Suttermans joined them. The party likely reached Florence in October 1620. On 20 April 1621 he is first documented in Florence when the Compagnia dei SS Barbara e Quirino paid him for a painting of Saint Barbara. He is first recorded in the service of the Medici in October 1621. Suttermans gained this court appointment on the strength of a portrait of one of the tapestry weavers, a painting identified as a portrait of Pietro Févère or Ebert d'Egidio van Asselt.Gaspard De Wit, ''Flemish Tapestry Weavers Abroad: Emigration and the Founding of Manufactories in Europe: Proceedings of the International Conference Held at Mechelen'', 2–3 October 2000, Koninklijke Manufactuur van Wandtapijten, Leuven University Press, 2002, p. 165 As the Medici had many family connections with other courts in northern Italy and Austria, Sustermans often travelled to other cities in Italy as well as to Vienna. In 1620 to early 1621 he was active in Mantua, where his master Pourbus had been a court painter at the beginning of the century. He painted in Mantua portraits of Eleonora Gonzaga, who was Emperor Ferdinand II's future wife, of Caterina de' Medici, Duke Ferdinando Gonzaga's wife, and a miniature portrait of Caterina de' Medici. On 5 January 1622, he delivered his first surviving documented work for the Medici, a portrait of Maria Maddalena of Austria, the widow of Grand Duke Cosimo II (now in the

Royal Museum of Fine Arts of Belgium Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family or royalty Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal ...

Brussels). In 1623 and 1624 he worked in Vienna on commissions from the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II. He wrote a letter to the Emperor pleading for him and his brothers Jan, Nicolaes, Frans, Vincent and

Cornelis Cornelis is a Dutch language, Dutch form of the male given name Cornelius (name), Cornelius. Some common shortened versions of Cornelis in Dutch are Cees, Cor, Corné, Corneel, Crelis, Kees (given name), Kees, Neel and Nelis. Cornelis (Kees) an ...

to be raised to the nobility. He explained in the letter that he and his brothers had been called from Florence to put their art in the service of the Emperor. The Emperor elevated the brothers Sustermans, including a brother called Matthias not mentioned in Justus' letter, to the nobility in 1624.A. Hajdecki, 'Die Niederländer in Wien'
in: Oud-Holland 23 (1905), p. 1-26, 108-128, 25 (1907), p. 9-26, esp. 23 (1905), p. 6-9 His brother Jan may have assisted with some of the portraits of the imperial family that Justus painted in Vienna. He returned to Florence by 17 February 1625, when he enrolled in the

Accademia del Disegno The Accademia delle Arti del Disegno ("Academy of the Arts of Drawing") is an academy of artists in Florence, in Italy. It was founded on 13 January 1563 by Cosimo I de' Medici, under the influence of Giorgio Vasari. It was initially known as ...

. He may have made another trip to Vienna in 1626. He traveled to Rome with his brother Frans, where in 1627 he painted portraits of Pope Urban VIII and most of the cardinals at the Vatican. Other travels included a 1639 stay at the Farnese court in Parma where he would have seen the work of Correggio. He was in 1639–40 in Piacenza. In 1640 he worked in Milan for Don

Diego Felipez de Guzmán, 1st Marquess of Leganés Diego is a Spanish masculine given name. The Portuguese equivalent is Diogo. The etymology of Diego is disputed, with two major origin hypotheses: ''Tiago'' and ''Didacus''. The name also has several patronymic derivations, listed below. ...

. He returned to Florence. He traveled to Rome in 1645 in the following of Cardinal

Giancarlo de' Medici Giancarlo de' Medici (24 July 1611 – 22 January 1663) was an Italian cardinal of the House of Medici. He was the second son of Grand Duke Cosimo II of Tuscany and his wife, Maria Maddalena of Austria, and the brother of Ferdinando II de' Medi ...

, the second son of Grand Duke Cosimo II. He painted portraits of Pope

Innocent X Pope Innocent X (6 May 1574 – 7 January 1655), born Giovanni Battista Pamphilj (or Pamphili), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 15 September 1644 to his death, in January 1655. Born in Rome of a family fro ...

and members of the Doria Pamphilj family. He was in Modena from June 1649 where he worked at the court of

Francesco I d'Este Francesco I d'Este (6 September 1610 – 14 October 1658) was Duke of Modena and Reggio from 1629 until his death. The eldest son of Alfonso III d'Este, he became reigning duke after his father's abdication. Biography Born on 6 September 1610, ...

. From there he was summoned to Genoa to work in the service of Giancarlo de' Medici. He is recorded making in November 1649 in Genoa a portrait of

Maria Anna of Spain Maria Anna of Spain (18 August 160613 May 1646)''Portrait of Duke Francesco'' (

Galleria Estense The Galleria Estense is an art gallery in the heart of Modena, centred around the collection of the House of Este, d’Este family: rulers of Duchy of Modena and Reggio, Modena, Reggio and Duchy of Ferrara, Ferrara from 1289 to 1796. Located on ...

, 1638). In Modena he also met

Guercino Giovanni Francesco Barbieri (February 8, 1591 – December 22, 1666),Miller, 1964 better known as (il) Guercino (), was an Italian Baroque painter and draftsman from Cento in the Emilia region, who was active in Rome and Bologna. The vigorous n ...

. From there he returned to Florence in 1650 where he resided until 1653. That year he worked in Ferrara, Modena and Mantua. In the fall of 1654 he was back in Modena and in 1654 in Genoa. In the period from 1654 to 1681 he spent most of his time in Florence. He worked in 1656 in Mantua and Modena and at the end of that year and the next year in Innsbruck. While in Austria he may have visited his brothers Matthias, a court musician, and Cornelis, a painter. He worked again in Modena from June to October 1659. He may have worked for some time in Spain. He became friends with Rubens and van Dyck and maintained regular correspondence with them.Filippo Baldinucci, ''Notizie dei professori del disegno da Cimabue in qua per le quali si dimostra come, e per chi le belle arti di pittura, scultura e architettura''
Volume 4, V. Batelli, 1846, pp. 473-488 He commissioned from Rubens in 1638 the painting ''Horrors of War'' (Florence, Pitti Palace) for his own collection. He operated a large workshop which produced many copies and variations of his paintings. Some of the collaborators in his workshop established a name for themselves including the brothers Valore and Domenico Casini, Valerio Marucelli, Francesco Bianchi Buonavita and Giovanni Lionardo Henner. These assistants likely painted the secondary details in his portraits. The important role played by the workshop in his output had a negative impact on his posthumous reputation. Sustermans married three times. He married first Dejanira di Santi Fabbretti, originally from Pisa. She died in August 1628 at the birth of their only son Carlo who later became a priest. In 1635 he married Maddalena di Cosimo Mazzocchi, from which union were born a son Francesco Maria and a daughter Vittoria. His son died in 1663. He married Maddalena Artimini in 1664 with whom he had another son and daughter. His nephew Giovanni Vangheldri (Jan van Gelder) (active 1651–1675), a son of his sister Clara Sustermans and merchant Johannes van Gelder, was a prominent portrait artist for the Dukes of Modena and Counts of Novellara. He likely joined his uncle Justus in Modena in 1649.Jan van Gelder
at the

He died in

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

on 23 April 1681 and was buried in San Felice church.

Work

Sustermans is mainly known for his portrait paintings. He also painted a number of history and genre paintings, still lifes and animals. He rarely dated his works, which makes it difficult to establish a chronology. His works have been dated mainly by relying on the apparent age of identified sitters. His early portraits show the influence of his master Frans Pourbus the Younger whose courtly portrait style was known for accentuating attention to precious details as well as its hard modelling.Sustermans, Justus
at Treccani Enciclopedia on line Sustermans did not share the Flemish preference for concentrating on the details of the sitters' clothes and rather favored a monumental simplicity in form. In Italy his style started to reflect the contact with Florentine painters such as

Cristofano Allori Cristofano Allori (17 October 1577 – 1 April 1621) was an Italian painter of the late Florentine Mannerist school, painting mostly portraits and religious subjects. Biography Allori was born at Florence and received his first lessons in paintin ...

and

Domenico Passignano Domenico Passignano (1559 – 17 May 1638), born Domenico Cresti or Crespi, was an Italian painter of a late-Renaissance or Counter-''Maniera'' ( Counter-Mannerism) style that emerged in Florence towards the end of the 16th century. Biography ...

. An example is the ''Portrait of Fra' Francesco dell'Antella'' (private collection, before early 1623). His ''Maria Maddalena of Austria (Wife of Duke Cosimo II de' Medici) with her Son, the Future Ferdinand II'' (

Flint Institute of Arts The Flint Institute of Arts, also called FIA, is located in the Flint Cultural Center in Flint, Michigan. The second largest art museum in Michigan, it offers exhibitions, interpretive programs, film screenings, concerts, lectures, family events ...

, 1623) shows his familiarity with the work of

Scipione Pulzone Scipione Pulzone (1544 – February 1, 1598), also known as Il Gaetano, was a Neapolitan painter of the late Italian Renaissance. His work differs in several respects from the Mannerist style predominant at the time. He was active mainly in R ...

, in particular his ''Portrait of Christine of Lorraine'' (Uffizi). Justus Sustermans - The cloakroom of the Villa di Pratolino with hunters and cooks of the Medici family

Justus Sustermans - The cloakroom of the Villa di Pratolino with hunters and cooks of the Medici family

During his years in Vienna in 1623 and 1624 he painted in a more painterly style which possibly was under the influence of the works of Hans von Aachen and Josef Heintz. Later, his work became more Baroque, under the influence of Flemish painters such as Rubens,

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 ...

and

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 ...

. His ''Portrait of Prince Waldemar Christian of Denmark'' (Galleria Palatina) shows the influence of Rubens. His mature style of the 1630s is characterised by its loose and expressive brushwork and lighter palette. The works of the Venetians such as

Titian Tiziano Vecellio (; 27 August 1576), Latinized as Titianus, hence known in English as Titian ( ), was an Italian Renaissance painter, the most important artist of Renaissance Venetian painting. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, near Belluno. Ti ...

may have led to his lighter palette in the 1630s. Suttermans was for seven years in possession of Titian's ''Portrait of Pietro Aretino'' (Florence, Pitti), which was in the collection of the Medici. This work may have inspired his famous ''Portrait of Galileo Galilei'' (Uffizi Museum). It was commissioned by Elia Diodati, a jurist who lived between Paris and Geneva and was a good friend of Galileo. After Galileo's death, he donated the portrait to the Grand Duke Ferdinand II. The portrait is a half bust showing Galileo's face on which the light source falls and looking upwards outside the frame. At the time of the painting, Galileo was around 70 years old. The work is executed in a thickly painted texture similar to 16th-century Venetian painting. The presence of

Pietro da Cortona Pietro da Cortona (; 1 November 1596 or 159716 May 1669) was an Italian Baroque painter and architect. Along with his contemporaries and rivals Gian Lorenzo Bernini and Francesco Borromini, he was one of the key figures in the emergence of Roman ...

in Florence from 1637 may have been another element in his stylistic evolution. From the mid-1640s he returned to his earlier handling of surfaces, with sharp contrasts between light and shadow. An example is the full-length ''Portraits of Vittoria della Rovere with the young Cosimo III de Medici'' ( Museo Nazionale di Palazzo Mansi, 1646). Justus Sustermans 020

Sustermans was a gifted animal painter. In the mid-50s there was a dip in the quality of his output. The reason behind this may have been an increased dependence on his workshop, either because Sustermans was regularly travelling or because of the Grand Duke's imposition of standard prices for anything other than full-length portraits. In the 1660s and 1670s his brushwork became more restrained and he often placed his figures against a dark background with rapid expert touches of highlight.

Selected works

*''Portrait of a Lady'', oil on canvas (

Norton Simon Museum The Norton Simon Museum is an art museum located in Pasadena, California. It was previously known as the Pasadena Art Institute and the Pasadena Art Museum and displays numerous sculptures on its grounds. Overview The Norton Simon collections ...

, Pasadena, California) *''Portrait of a Lady Wearing Pearls '', oil on canvas (Odessa Museum of Western and Eastern Art,

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

) *''The Senators of Florence swearing Allegiance to Ferdinando II de’Medici'', oil on canvas, (

Ashmolean The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology () on Beaumont Street in Oxford, England, is Britain's first public museum. Its first building was erected in 1678–1683 to house the cabinet of curiosities that Elias Ashmole gave to the University ...

, Oxford) *''Portrait of Galileo Galilei'', (shown at right) oil on canvas (

National Maritime Museum The National Maritime Museum (NMM) is a maritime museum in Greenwich, London. It is part of Royal Museums Greenwich, a network of museums in the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site. Like other publicly funded national museums in the Unit ...

, Greenwich) *''Portrait of Galileo'', oil on canvas (Uffizi Gallery, Florence) *''Portrait of a Woman'', oil on canvas (

National Museum of Serbia The National Museum of Serbia () is the largest and oldest museum in Belgrade, Serbia. It is located in the central zone of Belgrade on a square plot between the Republic Square (Belgrade), Republic Square, formerly Theatre Square, and three stree ...

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

Portrait of a Woman
'' CulturalHeritage.cc Foundation, Accessed 8 October 2013. *''Portrait of the Grand Duke Ferdinando II of Tuscany and his Wife Vittoria della Rovere'', oil on canvas (

National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of more than 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current di ...

, London) *''Vincenzo II Gonzaga, Ruler of Mantua from 1587–1612, Wearing the Order of the Redemeer'', oil on canvas *''Portrait of Cardinale Carlo de' Medici'', oil on canvas (

Museo Poldi Pezzoli The Museo Poldi Pezzoli is an art museum in Milan, Italy. It is located near the Teatro alla Scala, on Via Manzoni 12. The museum was originated in the 19th century as a private collection of Gian Giacomo Poldi Pezzoli (1822–1879) and his m ...

, Milan) *'' Maria Maddalena of Austria, Wife of the Grand Duke Cosimo II de' Medici and Sister of the Emperor Ferdinand, with her son, the Future Ferdinand II'', oil on canvas (Summerfield Gallery, Flint Institute of Art, Flint, Michigan) *''The family of Darius in front of Alexander'', (

Biblioteca Museu Víctor Balaguer The Biblioteca Museu Víctor Balaguer (Víctor Balaguer Museum & Library) is located in Vilanova i la Geltrú, province of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain and was founded in 1884 by Víctor Balaguer so as to thank the city for its support during ...

, Vilanova i la Geltrú)

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sustermans, Justus Flemish Baroque painters Flemish portrait painters Flemish history painters Flemish draughtsmen Painters from Antwerp 1597 births 1681 deaths Flemish court painters