Jacob Jordaens

Jacob Jordaens (1593–1678) was born in Antwerp, the eldest of eleven children of a linen merchant, and apart from a few short trips within the Low Countries he lived there all his life. Like Rubens, he trained under Adam van Noort, was admitted a master of the Guild of Saint Luke in 1615, and the next year married van Noort's eldest daughter. After their deaths he became the leading Flemish Baroque painter of his day. He often worked as an independent collaborator of Rubens, and took from him the chiaroscuro that Rubens had learned from Caravaggio. His patrons were chiefly the Antwerp bourgeoisie and local churches; royal commissions came late, from Charles I of England, Queen Christina of Sweden and Amalia van Solms, for whom he painted the Triumph of Frederick Henry at Huis ten Bosch. He is best known now for large genre scenes such as The King Drinks, though in his own time his reputation rested as much on mythological, allegorical and biblical pictures. Late in life he converted to Calvinism, and he was buried in the Protestant cemetery at Putte. Here: Adoration of the Shepherds, Carrying of the Cross and The Four Evangelists.