David Teniers the Younger

Flemish Baroque painter David Teniers the Younger (1610-1690) became the leading genre painter of his era through lively scenes of peasant life. Born in Antwerp, he trained under his painter father, who was frequently in debt. The young Teniers had to copy old masters to support the family. In 1637, he married Anna Brueghel, daughter of Jan Brueghel the Elder and granddaughter of the great Pieter Bruegel, linking him to Flanders' most celebrated artistic dynasty.

Teniers painted tavern scenes, village festivals, and peasant gatherings with warm humor and technical brilliance. His crowd scenes, often set in open landscapes, characterize figures with affection rather than mockery. Works from 1640-50 rank among his finest. He also painted alchemists in cluttered laboratories, guard room interiors, and religious subjects. In 1651, he became court painter and keeper of collections to Archduke Leopold Wilhelm in Brussels, an unprecedented honor for a painter. He documented the Archduke's picture gallery in detailed paintings and created 244 small copies of Italian works, published as engravings in Theatrum Pictorium (1660), an invaluable record of 17th-century collecting. He co-founded the Brussels Academy of Fine Arts in 1663. His compositions became so famous that peasant scenes were called "tenierkens" (little Teniers). About 2,000 paintings are attributed to him. Major works hang at the Prado, the Hermitage, the National Gallery London, and the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna.