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Artist/Painter - Gaspar de Crayer (gäs'pär de kri' er) Bio Contact Site for sale Links Home Works
He learned the art of
painting from Michael Coxcie. He matriculated in the Guild of St
Luke at Brussels in 1607, resided in the capital of Brabant till
after 1660, and finally settled at Ghent. Amongst the numerous pictures
which he painted in Ghent, the Martyrdom of St Blaise in the town
museum bears the inscription A 1668 aet. Crayer was one of the most productive yet one of the most conscientious artists of the later Flemish school, second to Rubens in vigour and below Van Dyck in refinement, but nearly equalling both in most of the essentials of painting. He was well known and always well treated by Archduke Albert of Austria and Archduchess Isabella, governors of the Netherlands. The cardinal-Infante Ferdinand made him a court-painter. His pictures abound in the churches and museums of Brussels and Ghent; and there is scarcely a country chapel in Flanders or Brabant that cannot offer one or more of his canvases. But he was equally respected beyond his native country; and some important pictures of his composition are to be found as far south as Aix en Provence and as far east as Amberg in the Upper Palatinate. Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand, by Gaspar de CrayerHis skill as a decorative artist is shown in the panels executed for a triumphal arch at the ceremonial entry of Cardinal Ferdinand into the Flemish capital, some of which are publicly exhibited in the museum of Ghent. His best works are the
Miraculous Draught of Fishes in the gallery of Brussels, the Judgment
of Solomon in the gallery of Ghent, and Madonnas with Saints in
the Louvre, the Alte Pinakothek, Munich, and the Belvedere at Vienna.
His portrait by Van Dyck (illustration above) was engraved by Paulus
Pontius.
Columbia Encyclopedia: Crayer, Gaspar de , c.1584–1669, Flemish religious and portrait painter. He was greatly influenced by Rubens. While lacking the genius of Rubens, Crayer almost rivaled him in productivity and maintained a high standard of work. His paintings are to be seen in countless Flemish provincial churches and in the museums and churches of Brussels and Ghent. Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Gaspar de Crayer Flemish painter, b. at Antwerp, 1582; d. at Ghent, 1669. He was a pupil of Raphael van Coxcie, but speedily surpassed his master, and was appointed painter to the Governor of the Low Countries at Brussels, was given a considerable pension, and employed in the churches and public edifices of that place. He resigned his position, however, and removed to Ghent, where he painted his most celebrated works. Of his picture of the "Centurion and Christ", painted for the refectory of the abbey at Afflinghem, Rubens is said to have declared: "Crayer, nobody will surpass you". He was one of the most eminent Flemish painters, and, although not a man of profound genius, was a perfect draughtsman and an admirable colourist. His compositions are simple, correct, and pleasing, his colouring clear and fresh, comparable only in his own school to that of Van Dyck. In many of his important works he employed De Vadder and Achtschellinck to paint the landscapes, he himself being responsible for the composition and figures. His chief work is the "Death of the Virgin" in Madrid, and his principal portrait is that of the Cardinal Infant Don Ferdinand, brother of the King of Spain, on horseback. There are several of his paintings at Brussels, three in Ghent, one at Antwerp, and others at Amsterdam, Munich, Nancy, Paris, St. Petersburg, and Rotterdam. His portrait was painted by Van Dyck and engraved by Pontius, and he himself is said to have been responsible for more than one woodcut. CONWAY, Early Flemish Artists (London, 1887); PASSAVANT, Les peintres de l'école flamande (Ghent, 1842); KUGLER, Handbuch der Geschichte der Malerei (Berlin, 1837); WAAGEN, Handbook of Flemish Painting (London, 1860); HOUSSAYE, L'Histoire de la peinture flamande (Paris, 1848); CROWE AND CAVALCASELLE, Early Flemish Painters (London, 1857). GEORGE CHARLES WILLIAMSON Art and artists~ |
