Large Religious Paintings
Rarely has a man dominated the artistic scene of his time as totally as Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640). He set up a studio in Antwerp through which passed the best young Flemish painters, and this enabled him to fulfil many commissions of all types and genres. His was a unique style, powerful and decorative. Rubens was also a personality who put his paintbrushes and diplomatic gifts to service throughout the courts of Europe.
Van Dyck was the most gifted of his pupils, and began his career by following the footsteps of his master to Genoa, where he stayed awhile. He quickly found his feet, finishing his brief existence as a painter in the English court. Rubens understood how to draw on the talents of specialist still life and flower painters, and how to get the best out of them. While Gaspar de Crayer was one of the great masters of Baroque religious painting, Simon de Vos and Erasmus II Quellinus expressed themselves in a more intimist vein. Le Martyre de saint Jacques (The Martyrdom of St James) by Thomas Willeboirts Bosschaert is a masterpiece of this great style.
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