David Teniers (Antwerp, 1610-1690)

DAVID TENIERS (Antwerp, 1610-1690)
"Village with figures".
Oil on oak panel.
Signed.
Measurements: 26 x 21 cm; 45'5 x 40 cm (with frame).
Set in some Flemish village of the time, this scene is characteristic of the genre painting of David Teniers The Younger, who printed to the genre costumbrista a high narrative and artistic level. Here, in an open landscape, there is a modest house through whose door a woman appears to warn the men that the meal is ready. In the background, another house and other groups of peasants signal the opening of the village in the middle of a peaceful meadow crossed by a river. The fluidity of the brushstroke, the quality of the pigments, the naturalness of the framing and the depth achieved with planes of color and nuanced light, together with the perfection of the drawing, are stylistic properties of Teniers that are manifested here. Teniers shared with Brueghel "the Elder" the idyllic vision of the peasant world, also popular in the Flemish literature of the time. Teniers' paintings were held in high esteem, appearing also in outstanding tapestries, which spread throughout Europe.
David Teniers II, son of David Teniers I, in his youth remained faithful to his father's style but soon specialized in genre painting. In 1638 he joined the Guild of St. Luke, of which he would later become dean. Among his patrons were the Bishop of Ghent and Archduke Leopold William. Teniers was also artistic director of the archduke's collection, in charge of the conservation of the paintings and of choosing and acquiring new works for what was one of the most important painting collections of the 17th century. In 1651 he was appointed court painter to Archduke John Joseph of Austria and moved to Brussels. Despite this, he continued to work also for other patrons, including the greatest art connoisseurs of the 17th century: Christina of Sweden, William II of Orange and Philip IV. Works by Teniers are kept in the most important museums of the world, such as the Prado, the Hermitage, the Louvre, the Metropolitan of New York, the National Galleries of London, Washington and Prague, the Rijksmuseum, the Royal Collection of London, the Ashmolean of Oxford, the Poldi Pezzoli of Milan, the Western Art Museum of Tokyo, the Thyssen-Bornemisza, or the Fine Arts Museums of Brussels, Vienna, Antwerp and Dresden.