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DAVID TENIERS

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Originally appearing in Volume V26, Page 617 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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DAVID See also:TENIERS , the younger (1610-1690), the more celebrated son of the last-named, almost ranking in celebrity with See also:Rubens and See also:Van Dyck, was See also:born in See also:Antwerp on the 15th of See also:December 1610. Through his See also:father, he was indirectly influenced by Elsheimer and by Rubens. We can also trace the See also:influence of See also:Adrian See also:Brouwer at the outset of his career. There is no See also:evidence, however, that either Rubens or Brouwer interfered in any way with Teniers's See also:education, and See also:Smith (See also:Catalogue Raisonne) may be correct in supposing that the admiration which Brouwer's pictures at one See also:time excited alone suggested to the younger artist his See also:imitation of them. The only trace of See also:personal relations having existed between Teniers and Rubens is the fact that the See also:ward of the latter, See also:Anne See also:Breughel, the daughter of See also:John (See also:Velvet) Breughel, married Teniers in 1637. Admitted as a " See also:master " in the gild of St See also:Luke in 1632, Teniers had even before this made the public acquainted with his See also:works. The See also:Berlin Museum possesses a See also:group of ladies and gentlemen dated 1630. No See also:special See also:signature positively distinguishes these first productions from those of his father, and we do not think it correct to admit with some writers that he first painted religious subjects. Dr See also:Bode, in a remarkable study of Brouwer and his works, expresses the See also:opinion that Teniers's earliest pictures are those found under the signature " Tenier." Tenier is a Flemish version of a thoroughly Walloon name, " Taisnier," which the painter's grandfather, a See also:mercer, brought with him when he came from See also:Ath in 1558; and Dr Bode's supposition is greatly strengthened by the circumstance that not only David the See also:elder but his See also:brother See also:Abraham and his four sons were all inscribed as " Tenier " in the ledgers of the Antwerp gild of St Luke. Some really first-See also:rate works—the " Prodigal Son " and a group of " Topers " in the See also:Munich See also:Gallery, as well as a party of gentlemen and ladies at See also:dinner, termed the_" Five Senses," in the See also:Brussels Museum—with the above signature are remarkable instances of the perfection attained by the artist when he may be supposed to have been scarcely twenty. His See also:touch is of the rarest delicacy, his See also:colour at once See also:gay andharmonious. See also:Waagen and Smith agree that the works painted from 1645 to 1650 testify most highly to the master's abilities; there is no doubt that a considerable number of earlier productions would have been sufficient to immortalize his name.

He was little over See also:

thirty when the Antwerp gild of St See also:George enabled him to paint the marvellous picture which ultimately found its way to the Hermitage Gallery in St Petersburg—the " See also:Meeting of the Civic See also:Guards." Correct to the minutest detail, yet striking in effect, the See also:scene, under the rays of glorious See also:sunshine, displays an astonishing amount of acquired knowledge and natural See also:good See also:taste. This See also:painting leads us to mention another See also:work of the same See also:year (1643), now in the See also:National Gallery, See also:London, " The See also:Village Fete " (or " La fete aux chaudrons ") (No. 952), an equally beautiful repetition of which, dated 1646, belongs to the See also:duke of See also:Bedford. Truth in See also:physiognomy, See also:distribution of See also:groups, the beautiful effect of See also:light and shade, command our warmest admiration. A work like this, says Waagen, stamps its author as the greatest among painters of his class. Frankness in expression and freedom in attitude guided his preference in the choice of a See also:model, but we may suppose him occasionally to have exaggerated both. He seems anxious to have it known that, far from indulging in the coarse amusements of the boors he is fond of painting, he himself lives in good See also:style, looks tike a See also:gentleman, and behaves as such. He never seems tired or showing the turrets of his See also:chateau of Perck, and in the midst of rustic merry-makings we often see his See also:family and himself received cap in See also:hand by the joyous peasants. We may also observe that he has a certain number of favourite See also:models, the See also:constant recurrence of whom is a special feature of his works. We have even met them in a See also:series of See also:life-See also:size portrait-like figures in the See also:Doria Pamphili Gallery in See also:Rome.' Teniers was chosen by the See also:common See also:council of Antwerp to preside over the gild of painters in 1644. The See also:archduke See also:Leopold See also:William, who had assumed the See also:government of the See also:Spanish See also:Netherlands, being a See also:great See also:lover of See also:art, employed Teniers not only as a painter but as keeper of the collection of pictures he was then forming. With the See also:rank and See also:title of " ayuda de camara," Teniers took up his See also:abode in Brussels shortly after 1647.

Immense sums were spent in the acquisition of paintings for the archduke. A number of valuable works of the See also:

Italian masters, now in the See also:Vienna Museum, came from Leopold's gallery after having belonged to See also:Charles I. and the duke of See also:Buckingham. De Bie (1661) states that Teniers was some time in London, See also:collecting pictures for the duke of Fuensaldana, then acting as Leopold's See also:lieutenant in the Netherlands. Paintings in See also:Madrid, Munich, Vienna and Brussels have enabled art critics to See also:form an opinion of what the imperial See also:residence was at the time of Leopold, who is represented as conducted by Teniers and admiring some See also:recent acquisition. No picture in the gallery is omitted, every one being inscribed with a number and the name of its author, so that the ensemble of these paintings might serve as an illustrated See also:inventory of the collection? Still more interesting is a See also:canvas, now in the Munich Gallery, where we see Teniers at work in a See also:room of the See also:palace, with an old See also:peasant as a model and several gentlemen looking on. When Leopold returned to Vienna, Teniers's task ceased; in fact, the pictures also travelled to See also:Austria, and a Flemish See also:priest, himself a first-rate See also:flower painter, Van der Baren, became keeper of the archducal gallery. Teniers nevertheless remained in high favour with the new See also:governor-See also:general, See also:Don Juan, a natural son of See also:Philip IV. The See also:prince was his See also:pupil, and de Bie tells us he painted the likeness of the painter's son. Honoured as one of the greatest painters in See also:Europe, Teniers seems to have made himself extremely miserable through his aristocratic r Underthe name of Weenix. 2 It was not until recent years that the MS. inventory of this collection was discovered among the papers of Prince Schwartzenberg in Vienna. It was published in 1883 by Adolf Berger.

In 1658 Teniers published 243 etchings after the best Italian works of Leopold William's collection, which, with the portraits of the archduke and Teniers, were brought together as a See also:

volume in 1660, under the title El Teatro de Pinturas. leanings. Shortly after the See also:death of his wife in 1656 he married See also:Isabella de Fren, daughter of the secretary of the council of See also:Brabant, and strove his utmost to prove his right to armorial See also:bearings. In a See also:petition to the See also:king he reminded him that the See also:honour of See also:knighthood had been bestowed upon Rubens and Van Dyck. The king at last declared his readiness to See also:grant the See also:request, but on the See also:express See also:condition that Teniers should give up selling his pictures. The condition was not complied with; but it may perhaps See also:account for the master's activity in favour of the See also:foundation in Antwerp of an See also:academy of See also:fine arts to which only painters and sculptors should be admitted, whereas the See also:venerable gild of St Luke made no difference between art and handicraft: carvers, gilders, bookbinders, stood on an even footing with painters and sculptors: the separation was not obtained till 1973. There were great rejoicings in Antwerp when, on the 26th of See also:January 1663, Teniers came from Brussels with the royal See also:charter of the academy, the existence of which was due entirely to his personal initiative. Teniers died in Brussels on the 25th of See also:April 169o. The date is often wrongly given as 1694 or 1695. A picture in the Munich Gallery (No. 906), dated 168o, represents him as an alchemist, oppressed with a See also:burden of See also:age beyond his years. From this date we hear more of his doings as a picture-dealer than as a painter, which most probably gave See also:birth to the See also:legend of his having given himself out as deceased in See also:order to get higher prices for his works.

David, his eldest son, a painter of See also:

talent and reputation, 'died in 1685. One of this third Teniers's pictures—" St See also:Dominic Kneeling before the Blessed Virgin," dated 1666—is still to be found in the See also:church at Perck. As well as his father, he contributed many patterns to the celebrated Brussels See also:tapestry looms. Smith's Catalogue Raisonne gives descriptions of over 900 paintings accepted as See also:original productions of Teniers. Few artists ever worked with greater ease, and some of his smaller pictures—landscapes with figures—have been termed " afternoons," not from their subjects, but from the time spent in producing them. The museums in Madrid, St See also:Petersburg, Vienna, Munich, See also:Dresden, See also:Paris, London and Brussels have more than 200 pictures by Teniers. In the See also:United See also:Kingdom 15o may be found in private hands, and many other examples are to be met with in private collections throughout Europe. Although the spirit of many of these works is as a whole marvellous, their conscientiousness must be regarded as questionable. Especially in the later productions, from 1654 onwards we often detect a lack of earnestness and of the See also:calm and concentrated study of nature which alone prevent expression from degenerating into grimace in situations like those generally depicted by Teniers. His education, and still more his real and assumed position in society, to a great degree account for this. Brouwer knew more of taverns; See also:Ostade was more thoroughly at See also:home in cottages and humble dwellings; 'I eniers, throughout, triumphs in broad daylight, and, though many of his interiors may be justly termed masterpieces, they seldom equal his open-See also:air scenes, where he has, without constraint, given full See also:play to the See also:bright resources of his luminous See also:palette. In this respect he often suggests comparisons with See also:Watteau.

But his subjects taken from the Gospels or sacred legend are absurd. An admirable picture in the Louvre shows " See also:

Peter Denying his Master " next to a table where soldiers are smoking and having a See also:game at See also:cards. A similar example is the " Deliverance of St Peter from See also:Prison " of which two versions, curiously altered, are in the Dresden Gallery and the See also:Wallace Collection. He likes going back to subjects illustrated two centuries before by See also:Jerome Bosch—the " Temptation of St See also:Anthony," the " See also:Rich See also:Man in See also:Hell," incantations and witches—for the See also:simple purpose of assembling the most comic See also:apparitions. His villagers drink, play See also:bowls, See also:dance and sing; they seldom See also:quarrel or fight, and, if they do, seem to be shamming. This much may be said of Teniers, that no painter shows a more enviable ability to render a conception to his own and other See also:people's See also:satisfaction. His works have a technical freshness, a straightforwardness in means and See also:intent, which make the study of them most delightful; as See also:Sir See also:Joshua See also:Reynolds says, they are worthy of the closest See also:attention of any painter who desires to excel in the See also:mechanical knowledge of his art. As an etcher Teniers compares very unfavourably with Ostade, Cornelis, Bega and Dusart. More than 500 plates were made from his pictures; and, if it be true that See also:Louis XIV. judged his " baboons " (magots) unworthy of a See also:place in the royal collections, they found admirable engravers in France—Le Bas and his scholars—and passionate admirers. The duke of Bedford's admirable specimen was sold for 18,030 livres (fi86o) in 1768. The "Prodigal Son," now in the Louvre, fetched 30.010 livres (0095) in 1776. Smith's highest estimates have See also:long since been greatly exceeded.

The" Archers " in St Petersburg he gives as See also:

worth £2000. The Belgian government gave £5000 in 1867. for the " Village See also:Pastoral " of 1652, which is now in the Brussels Museum; and a picture of the " Prodigal Son," scarcely 16 by 28 inches, fetched £528o in 1876. Although van Tilborgh, who was a See also:scholar of Teniers in Brussels, followed his style with some success, and later painters often ex-celled in figure-painting on a small See also:scale, Teniers cannot be said to have formed a school. Properly speaking, he is the last representative of the great Flemish traditions of the 17th See also:century. See T. Smith, A Catalogue Raisonne of the Works of the most Eminent Dutch, Flemish and See also:French Painters; John Vermoelen, See also:Notice historique See also:sue David Teniers et ',us famille; L. Galesloot, Quelques renseignements sur la famille de P. P. Rubens et le decks de David Teniers and Un proces de David Teniers et la See also:corporation See also:des peintres d Bruxelles; Alph. See also:Wauters, Histoire des environs de Bruxelles and See also:Les tapisseries bruxelloises; F. T. Van der Brandern, Geschiedenis der Antwerpsche Schilderschool; Max Rooses, Geschichte der Malerschule Antwerpen; W.

Bode, Adriaen Brouwer, ein Bild seines Lebens and seines Schaffens. (H. H.; P. G. K.) .

End of Article: DAVID TENIERS

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