Jacob Jordaens was one of three Flemish Baroque painters, along with Peter Paul Rubens and Anthony van Dyck, to bring prestige to the Antwerp school of painting. Like Rubens, Jordaens painted altarpieces, mythological, and allegorical scenes, and after 1640—the year Rubens died—he was the most important painter in Antwerp for large-scale commissions and the status of his patrons increased in general. However, he is best known today for his numerous large genre scenes based on proverbs in the manner of his contemporary Jan Brueghel the Elder. Jordaens never made the traditional trip to Italy to study classical and Renaissance art. Despite this, he made many efforts to study prints or works of Italian masters available in northern Europe. His work, however, betrays local traditions, especially the genre traditions of Pieter Bruegel the Elder, in honestly depicting Flemish life with authenticity and showing common people in the act of celebratory expressions of life.

1. Jacob Jordaens: 110 Masterpieces
By Maria Tsaneva
First Edition
Copyright © 2014 by Maria Tsaneva
*****
Jacob Jordaens: 110 Masterpieces
*****
Foreword
Jacob Jordaens (1593 – 1678) was one of three Flemish Baroque painters, along with Peter Paul
Rubens and Anthony van Dyck, to bring prestige to the Antwerp school of painting. Like Rubens,
Jordaens painted altarpieces, mythological, and allegorical scenes, and after 1640—the year
Rubens died—he was the most important painter in Antwerp for large-scale commissions and the
status of his patrons increased in general. However, he is best known today for his numerous
large genre scenes based on proverbs in the manner of his contemporary Jan Brueghel the Elder.
Jordaens never made the traditional trip to Italy to study classical and Renaissance art. Despite
this, he made many efforts to study prints or works of Italian masters available in northern
Europe. For example, Jordaens is known to have studied Titian, Veronese, Caravaggio, and
Bassano, either through prints, copies or originals. His work, however, betrays local traditions,
especially the genre traditions of Pieter Bruegel the Elder, in honestly depicting Flemish life with
authenticity and showing common people in the act of celebratory expressions of life. His
commissions frequently came from wealthy local Flemish patrons and clergy, although later in
his career he worked for courts and governments across Europe.
Besides a large output of monumental oil paintings he was a prolific tapestry designer, a career
that reflects his early training as a "watercolor" painter. Jordaens' importance can also be seen by
his number of pupils; the Guild of St. Luke records fifteen official pupils from 1621 to 1667, but
six others were recorded as pupils in court documents and not the Guild records, so it is probable
that he had more students than officially recorded. Among them were his cousin and his son
Jacob. Like Rubens and other artists at that time, Jordaens' studio relied on his assistants and
pupils in the production of his paintings. Not many of these pupils went on to fame themselves,
however a position in Jordaens's studio was highly desirable for young artists from across

2. Europe.
Jacob Jordaens was born on 19 May 1593, the first of eleven children, to the wealthy linen
merchant Jacob Jordaens Sr. and Barbara van Wolschaten in Antwerp. Little is known about
Jordaens's early education. It can be assumed that he received the advantages of the education
usually provided for children of his social class. This assumption is supported by his clear
handwriting, his competence in French and in his knowledge of mythology. Jordaens familiarity
with biblical subjects is evident in his many religious paintings, and his personal interaction with
the Bible was strengthened by his later conversion from Catholicism to Protestantism. Like
Rubens, he studied under Adam van Noort, who was his only teacher. During this time Jordaens
lived in Van Noort's house and became very close to the rest of the family. After eight years of
training with Van Noort, he enrolled in the Guild of St. Luke as a "waterschilder", or watercolor
artist. This medium was often used for preparing tapestry cartoons in the seventeenth century
although examples of his earliest watercolor works are no longer extant. In the same year as his
entry into the guild, 1616, he married his teacher's eldest daughter, Anna Catharina van Noort,
with whom he had three children. In 1618, Jordaens bought a house in Hoogstraat (the area in
Antwerp that he grew up in). He would then later buy the adjoining house to expand his
household and workspace in 1639, mimicking Rubens's house built two decades earlier. He lived
and worked here until his death in 1678.
Paintings and Drawings

3. The Ferry Boat to Antwerp
1634, oil on canvas, 2795 mm x 4670 mm

5. Detail

6. Detail

8. Detail

10. Detail
Allegory of Fertility, c. 1623
Oil on canvas, 180 x 241 cm
Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts, Brussels

12. Detail

14. Detail

15. Detail
Detail

16. Allegory of Fertility
Pen, ink on paper, 191 x 2261 mm
Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts, Brussels

17. Bacchus as a child
1640, oil on canvas, 1,210 mm x 1,060 mm

18. Detail

19. Detail

20. Female Nude, Seen from the Back
1601, black chalk, red chalk and white chalk on paper, 257 mm x 203 mm

21. Like to like
1645, Black chalk, brush and brown ink, water-colour and body-colour, 139 mm x 218 mm

23. Detail

25. Detail

27. Detail
Susanna and the Elders
1653, oil on canvas, 1,535 mm x 2,030 mm

28. Detail

29. Detail

30. Detail

31. Detail

32. The Bean King, c. 1655
Oil on canvas, 242 x 300 cm, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

33. Detail

35. Detail
Detail

37. Detail
The Flight of Lot and His Family from Sodom (after Rubens)
1618-20, Oil on canvas, 1695 mm x 1985 mm

38. Detail

39. Detail

40. A Hunter and his dogs
1635, Oil on canvas, Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille
Diogenes Searching for an Honest Man

41. 1642, Oil on canvas, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister
Detail

43. Detail
Two Apostles heads
Oil on canvas, Private collection

44. The Feast of Cleopatra
1653, Oil on canvas, 156.4 x 149.3 cm, State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg

46. Detail
The Holy Family with Various Persons and Animals in a Boat
1652, oil on canvas, 2540 mm x 2200 mm

47. Detail

50. Detail

51. Portrait of a Lady
Late 1640s, oil on canvas
Detail

53. Detail
Mercury, Argus and Io
Oil on canvas, 114 by 195 cm, Private collection
Detail

54. Detail

55. Self-Portrait as a Bagpipe Player
Oil on canvas, Private collection

56. Detail

57. Unrequited Love
Oil on canvas, laid on panel, 88.9 by 63 cm, Privete collection

58. Detail

59. Detail

60. St Andrew
Oil on panel, Privete collection

61. Detail

62. Detail

63. The Holy Family with an Angel
Oil on canvas, 89.7 x 103 cm, Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid

65. Detail

66. Crucifixion
Oil on canvas
Detail

68. Detail

69. Detail

70. The daughters of Cecrops find the small Erichthonios
Oil on canvas

71. Detail

72. A Satyr
1645, oil on canvas, 135 × 176 cm, Rijksmuseum Amsterdam

74. Detail
Allegory of Fertility
Oil on canvas, 119 x 182 cm
Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Ghent

76. An Apostle, 1623-25
OIl on oak, 68,5 x 51,5 cm
Národní Galerie, Prague
Apostles Paul and Barnabas in Lystra, 1645
Oil on canvas, 172 x 242 cm
Akademie der bildenden Künste, Vienna

77. As the Old Sang the Young Play Pipes, 1638
Oil on canvas, 192 x 120 cm
Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Antwerp

78. As the Old Sang the Young Play Pipes (detail), 1638
Oil on canvas
Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Antwerp

80. Assumption of the Virgin
Oil on canvas, 280 x 178 cm
Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Ghent

82. Bearded Man Stepping Down
India ink, bodycolor, chalk on paper, 52 x 29 cm
Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam
Christ Driving the Merchants from the Temple, c. 1650
Oil on canvas, 288 x 436 cm
Musée du Louvre, Paris

83. Diana and Actaeon, c. 1640
Oil on oak panel, 54 x 76 cm
Gemäldegalerie, Dresden

84. Diana and Actaeon (detail), c. 1640
Oil on oak panel
Gemäldegalerie, Dresden

85. Education of Jupiter
Oil on panel, 61 x 75 cm
Rockox House, Antwerp

86. Martyrdom of St Quentin, c. 1650
Watercolor, gouache, 406 x 293 mm
Biblioteca, Turin

87. Meleager and Atalanta, 1618
Oil on canvas, 152 x 120 cm
Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Antwerp

88. Nymphs at the Fountain of Love, c. 1630
Oil on canvas backed by panel, 131 x127 cm
Museo del Prado, Madrid

90. Offering to Ceres, Goddess of Harvest, 1618-20
Oil on canvas, 165 x 112 cm
Museo del Prado, Madrid
Portrait of a Family, 1650-52
Oil on canvas, 178 x 152 cm
The Hermitage, St. Petersburg

91. Portrait of a Gentlewoman, c. 1660
Oil on canvas, 68 x 50 cm
Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence

92. Portrait of a Young Married Couple, 1615-1620
Oil on panel, 125 x 93 cm
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

93. Portrait of an Old Man, c. 1637
Oil on canvas, 154 x 119 cm
The Hermitage, St. Petersburg

94. Portrait of the Artist's Daughter Elizabeth, 1640
Oil on canvas, 74 x 59 cm
Private collection

95. Portrait of the Artist's Daughter Elizabeth, c. 1637
Oil on canvas, 75 x 55 cm
Akademie der bildenden Künste, Vienna

96. Portrait of the Painter's Daughter Anna Catharina, c. 1635
Oil on canvas, 135 x 114 cm
Private collection

97. Prometheus Bound, c. 1640
Oil on canvas, 245 x 178 cm
Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, Cologne

98. Return of the Holy Family from Egypt, c. 1616
Oil on oak, 63 x 50 cm
Staatliche Museen, Berlin

99. Satyr and Peasant
Oil on canvas, 188,5 x 168 cm
Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts, Brussels

100. Satyr at the Peasant's House, 1620
Oil on panel transferred to canvas, 194,5 x 203,5 cm
Alte Pinakothek, Munich

101. Self-Portrait among Parents, Brothers and Sisters, c. 1615
Oil on canvas, 175 x 138 cm
The Hermitage, St. Petersburg

102. Self-Portrait among Parents, Brothers and Sisters (detail), c. 1615
Oil on canvas
The Hermitage, St. Petersburg

104. Self-Portrait among Parents, Brothers and Sisters (detail), c. 1615
Oil on canvas
The Hermitage, St. Petersburg

106. St Charles Cares for the Plague Victims of Milan, 1655
Oil on canvas
Sint-Jacobskerk, Antwerp
Studies of the Head of Abraham Grapheus
Oil on paper mounted on panel, 45,2 x 52 cm
Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Ghent

107. The Bean King, 1635-55
Oil on canvas, 243 x 373 cm
Staatliche Museen, Kassel

108. The Bean King, c. 1638
Oil on canvas, 160 x 213 cm
The Hermitage, St. Petersburg

109. The Fall of Man
Oil on canvas, 185 x 221 cm
Szépmûvészeti Múzeum, Budapest

110. The Family of the Artist, c. 1621
Oil on canvas, 181 x 187 cm
Museo del Prado, Madrid

111. The Four Evangelists, 1620-25
Oil on canvas, 133 x 118 cm
Musée du Louvre, Paris

112. The King Drinks
Oil on canvas, 156 x 210 cm
Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts, Brussels

113. The King Drinks, 1638-40
Oil on canvas, 152 x 204 cm
Musée du Louvre, Paris

114. The King Drinks, 1638
Oil on canvas
Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts, Brussels

115. The Rest of Diana, 1645-55
Oil on canvas, 203 x 264 cm
Musée du Louvre, Paris

116. The Satyr and the Peasant, c. 1620
Oil on canvas, 171 x 194 cm
Staatliche Museen, Kassel

117. Triumph of Frederik Hendrik, 1647-52
Oil on canvas
Huis ten Bosch, The Hague

118. Adoration of the Shepherds, c. 1617
Oil on panel, 125 x 96 cm
Mauritshuis, The Hague