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Jacob Jordaens Biography
Belgian Baroque artist
born 1593 - died 1678
Worked with:
Jacob van Campen (1595-1657)
Jacob Jordaens, a Flemish artist, was born in 1593 into the
family of an Antwerp linen merchant. He was the pupil of Adam van Noort
(since 1607), under whom
Rubens had
studied briefly. Later Jacob Jordaens married van
Noort’s daughter, Catharina. In 1615, he joined the St. Lukas Guild and, in 1621,
became its deacon. |
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Jacob Jordaens painted religious,
mythological, historical subjects, portraits
and genre scenes, and big monumental
decorations. In his early period, marked by
the influence of
Caravaggio, the night scenes with
candle and moon light prevail. The young
master’s individuality was revealed on
big-scaled compositions, where several
full-length figures fill all the surface of
the Jacob Jordaens painting, which lack depth. This method
did not change during his working life.
Maybe it was the result of Jacob Jordaens painting on
wall-hangings, which he designed and painted
on linen and which his father sold.
He did not visit Italy and never tried
to imitate the Italian style. His
optimistic disposition makes him close to
Rubens, in whose workshop Jacob Jordaens was employed
several times. He adopted Rubens’
style, making it his own, but he lacks
Rubens’ inexhaustible fantasy. Even
religious and mythological subjects are
interpreted by him in a genre manner, his
characters are painted from nature and they
are taken from everyday life. Sometimes
Jacob Jordaens paintings seem overloaded with
massive figures, e.g. Allegory of Fertility. |