Background
Jacob Jordaens was born on May 19, 1593 in Antwerp, Belgium. He was the first of eleven children of Jacob Jordaens Sr., a wealthy linen merchant, and Barbara van Wolschaten.
painter draughtsman Tapestry designer
Jacob Jordaens was born on May 19, 1593 in Antwerp, Belgium. He was the first of eleven children of Jacob Jordaens Sr., a wealthy linen merchant, and Barbara van Wolschaten.
At the age of fourteen, Jacob studied under Adam van Noort, who was one of Peter Paul Rubens's masters.
In 1616, Jacob Jordaens was admitted as a watercolor artist into the Guild of Saint Luke. The same year, he painted one of his earliest works, entitled "Adoration of the Shepherds".
Unlike Rubens and Anthony Van Dyck, Jordaens did not make the journey to Italy, which was regarded in his day as essential for all ambitious young painters. Indeed, except for a visit to Holland in 1661, his entire life was passed in the southern Netherlands.
The influences, that shaped the art of young Jordaens are plainly visible in the work "Daughters of Cecrops". The impress of Rubens reveals itself in the heavy, fleshy nudes and the brilliant coloring. The realistic details and the strong side lighting, on the other hand, are derived from the Italian painter Caravaggio, whose influence reached Jordaens only indirectly, through certain Flemish artists, who had visited Rome and become imitators of his style.
During the period from 1620 till 1640, Jordaens produced most of the works, which established his reputation as an artist of genius. In 1628, when the Augustinians of Antwerp required three altarpieces for their church, they gave the commissions to Rubens, Van Dyck and Jordaens. Jordaens's subject was the Martyrdom of St. Apollonia and he made of it a spectacular, if somewhat overcrowded, composition. At this time, his inventiveness began to express itself in the creation of new genre subjects, which he repeated with variations in numerous canvases. Among the earliest is "The Peasant and the Satyr", a series of illustrations for Aesop's fable. Equally well known are his boisterous scenes of family feasts, such as "The King Drinks" and the many pictures of "As the Old Sang, So the Young Pipe", from the Flemish proverb, which are full of comic and trenchant observations.
When applied to biblical subjects, Jordaens's homely Realism sometimes overshadows the religious narrative: even in the 17th century, his painting "St. Peter Finding the Coin in the Fish's Mouth" was described as the "Antwerp Ferry" because of the prominence, given to a boat, crowded with people and animals. The artist's delight in interpreting mythological subjects in a spirit of parody is exemplified by his "Nurture of Jupiter", in which the God is depicted as a squealing infant, crying for his milk.
When, during the 1630's, Rubens found himself faced with monumental projects, requiring many assistants, Jordaens became one of his principal collaborators. At the time of the entry of the Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand into Antwerp in 1635, when the streets were filled with lavish baroque decorations, Jordaens executed several large canvases from Rubens's designs. He performed a similar service a few years later by assisting Rubens in the execution of the vast cycle of pictures for the Torre de la Parada, Philip IV's hunting lodge in Spain.
Later in his lifetime, Jordaens was given the lion's share in the decoration of the Huis ten Bosch near The Hague in Holland. His chief painting for this project was the "Triumph of Prince Frederick Henry".
In his later years, Jordaens left the Roman Church to become a Calvinist, and Protestant Communion services were frequently held at his house. He continued, nevertheless, to paint devotional pictures for Catholic patrons, and his conversion to the Reformed Church seems to have caused him no difficulties. One of his largest and most impressive late religious works is "Christ among the Doctors".
During his lifetime, the painter also created designs for tapestries. He was especially motivated in this field and his perfected techniques and style earned him numerous commissions for series of tapestries.
Jacob Jordaens was known for his allegorical and mythological works and for his naturalistic depictions of peasant life. Also, he was an outstanding master of the school of Antwerp and one of the leading tapestry designers of his time.
Jacob's most famous works include "The Adoration of the Shepherds", "The Flight of Lot and his Family from Sodom", "The Satyr and the Peasant" and others.
Today, his works are kept in the collections of different art institutions, museums and galleries, including the Alte Pinakothek in Munich, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, the Louvre Museum in Paris, the National Gallery in London, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City and others.
The mission of St. Peter
Bust of Satyr
The Return from Egypt of the Holy Family
The Lamentation
Levade performed under the auspices of Mars and in the presence of Mercury, Venus and a squire
Madonna and Child wreathed with flowers
The disciples at the tomb
King Candaules of Lydia Showing his Wife to Gyges
Portrait of a young lady
Binding of Isaac
Saint Christopher carrying the Child Jesus
Usury is a great evil
The Judgement of Midas
Odysseus in the Cave of Polyphemus
Christ Driving the Merchants from the Temple
The Assumption of the Virgin
As the Old Sang, So the young Pipe
Suffer the Little Children to Come Unto Me
The Supper at Emmaus
Self-Portrait as a Bagpipe Player
The Rest of Diana
Suzanna and the Elders
Love of Cupid and Psyche
Satyr and Peasant
Satyr and Peasant
The King Drinks
Homage to Pomona
Eating Man
The Holy Family and child St. John the Baptist
The Holy Family with characters and animals in a boat
The Miraculous Draught of Fishes
Martyrdom of St. Quentin
The Sacrifice of Isaac
Mercure killing Argos
Religious allegory
The Banquet of Cleopatra
Head of an Old Woman
Christ Carrying the Cross
Mercury and Argos
Hunter with his dogs
The Bean King
Satyr and Peasant
Kitchen scene
Self-Portrait
Suffer the Little Children
Study of little child
The Holy Family with St. Anne, The Young Baptist, and his Parents
Portrait of a Gentlewoman
The Apotheosis of Aeneas
Portrait of an Old Man
Portrait of a lady sitting in a chair
Bacchus and Ariadne
Portrait of the Painter's Daughter Anna Catharina Oil on canvas
St. Charles Cares for the Plague Victims of Milan
The Satyr with the Peasants
Portrait of Catharina Behaghel
Cavalier executing a Levade, in front of a portal
Christ Comes as a Gardener to Three Marys
Portrait of a Man
Portrait of Johan Wierts
The Daughters of Cecrops finding the child Erichthonius
The veneration of the Eucharist
Servant with a fruit basket and a pair of lovers
The Artist with the Family of his Father-in-Law Adam Van Noort
Saint Peter
The Virgin and Child in the company of little St. John and his parents
Pan and Syrinx
Portrait of the Rogier Witer
The Apostles, St. Paul and St. Barnabas at Lystra
The King Drinks
Pan punished by the Nymphs
Ferry Boat to Antwerp
The Artist's Family
The Martyrdom of St. Apollonia
Govaert van Surpele and his wife
Portrait of Jordaens family
The Triumph of Frederic-Henri
Adoration of the Magi
Portrait of the wife of Johan Wierts
Pieta
Love of Cupid and Psyche
Holy Women at the Sepulchre
An Apostle
The Apostles, St. Paul and St. Barnabas at Lystra
Prometheus Bound
The Daughters of Cecrops finding the child Erichthonius
Allegory of the Peace of Westphalia
Lapiths and the Centaurs
The Rape of Europa
Diogenes Searching for an Honest Man
The Annunciation
Infant Jupiter Fed by the Goat Amalthea
Odysseus
Psyche hosted on Olympus
The Bean King
Allegory of Fertility
The Four Evangelists
Adoration of the Shepherds
Cupid and Sleeping Nymphs
Triumph of Frederik Hendrik
Meleager and Atalanta
King Drinks
The father of the Psyche consultants of Oracle in the Temple of Apollo
The Fall of Man
Neptune Creating the Horse
Holy Family with Elizabeth and Child John the Baptist
The Abundance of the Earth
Satyr and Girl with a Basket of Fruit
Diana and Actaeon
Marsyas Flayed by Apollo
An Offering to Ceres, Goddess of the Harvest
Portrait of Magdalena de Cuyper
Saint John the Baptist
The tribute the Caliph Harun al-Rashid to Charlemagne
Job
Sleep of Antiope
The four Latin fathers of the Church
Portrait of a Family
Nymphs at the Fountain of Love
Portrait of a Young Married Couple
Meleager and Atalanta
The Judgement of Midas
The Childhood of Zeus
Christ on a Cross
The Miracle of the Obol in the Mouth of the Fish
Return of the Holy Family from Egypt
Five studies of cows
Allegory of Abundance
Portrait of the artist's daughter Elizabeth
Susanna and the Elders
The Flight into Egypt
Satyr playing flute
Education of Jupiter
Child's head
Towards the end of his lifetime, Jordaens converted from Catholicism to Protestantism.
In 1616, Jacob married his teacher's eldest daughter, Anna Catharina van Noort. Their marriage produced three children.
