Attributed to Gysbrecht Leytens

Attributed to GYSBRECHT LEYTENS (Antwerp, 1586–1642/1657)
“Landscape.”
Oil on panel.
Measurements: 66 x 84.2 cm; 80.6 x 99.1 cm (frame).
An interesting Flemish landscape featuring a falconer, conceived within the tradition of the wooded landscapes of the early 17th-century Antwerp school. The composition is organized through a pronounced sense of depth, with the masses of trees on either side drawing the viewer’s gaze and guiding it. This compositional device is one of the characteristic features of Gysbrecht Leytens, a painter who specialized in summer and winter landscapes and is known precisely for his scenically structured compositions.
Leytens was trained in the artistic milieu of Antwerp, one of the great centers of painting in the Southern Netherlands. His landscape style reflects the legacy of Flemish Mannerism, particularly that of artists such as Joos de Momper II and Abraham Govaerts, whose compositions are similarly characterized by the use of monumental trees and peripheral elements to create a theatrical sense of depth. In this context, Leytens developed his own distinctive style based on the elegance of tree forms and the creation of carefully structured landscapes. His work focused primarily on summer and winter landscapes, genres in which he achieved particular recognition. He also collaborated with prominent figure painters: he created landscapes to accompany compositions by Sebastiaen Vrancx and Frans Francken II, a common practice in Flemish painting of the time that attests to his integration into Antwerp’s leading artistic circles.
Gysbrecht Leytens began his training in 1598 as a pupil of Jacques Vrolyck, an artist and art dealer originally from Béthune. He attained the status of master in the Antwerp Painters’ Guild in 1611.Between 1615 and 1625, he was a member of the Olijftak Rhetoric Society, one of the city’s cultural institutions, and from 1624 to 1628 he served as captain of the Antwerp City Guard. From the 1620s onward, his career is less well documented.