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| Frans Pourbus the Younger (1569–1622) | ||||||||||
| A Flemish painter and draughtsman, Pourbus was born in Antwerp into a family of painters, destined to become one of Europe's most renowned court portraitists. He began his training under his grandfather, Pieter Pourbus, before studying with Otto van Veen. By 1589, he had moved to Bruges, where he restored the large altarpiece of the Passion in the church of Our Lady, a work begun by Bernard van Orley and finished by Mark Gheeraerts, which had been damaged by Calvinist iconoclasts. In 1591, he was admitted as a free master into the Guild of St Luke in Antwerp. By 1600, Pourbus was working in Brussels for the Archduke Albert, and between 1600 and 1609, he served as the court painter in Mantua. In 1609, he accompanied Eleanor of Mantua to Paris, where he was appointed as the official painter to her sister, Queen Mary de' Medici, and established himself in the French capital. He later became court painter to Louis XIII. His portraits are dignified compositions, devoid of dramatic action or landscape, focusing instead on the opulence of costume, jewellery, and drapery, with extraordinary attention to detail, capturing the material wealth and social status of his sitters. While his portraits may lack emotional dynamism, they paved the way for the naturalistic tendencies that would influence 17th-century Flemish portraiture. Pourbus died in Paris. | ||||||||||
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Art