Background
Gualterus Gysaerts was born in Antwerp as the nephew (or maybe the cousin) of David Teniers the Younger.
Gualterus Gysaerts was born in Antwerp as the nephew (or maybe the cousin) of David Teniers the Younger.
He was a pupil of Philip Fruytiers. He became a master in the local Guild of Saint Luke in 1670. He moved to Mechelen in 1674 where he joined the local order of the Friars Minor called the Recollects.
On becoming a monk he changed his first name from Wouter to Gualterus.
He died in Mechelen in or after 1677. Gysaerts collaborated with other painters particularly in the production of garland paintings.
Garland paintings are a special type of still life developed in Antwerp by artists such as January Brueghel the Elder, Hendrick van Balen, Frans Francken the Younger, Peter Paul Rubens and Daniel Seghers. They typically show a flower garland around a devotional image or portrait.
Garland paintings were usually collaborations between a still life and a figure painter.
The series was made for the Minorite Church in Mechelen following the beatification of the martyrs on 9 July 1676. Teniers painted the monochrome bust portrait of each martyr in a cartouche while Gysaerts painted the cartouche and the flower garland surrounding lieutenant Of these paintings, 8 are still known to exist, one of which is in the Rijksmuseum.
Both Gysaerts and Teniers signed the painting in the Rijksmuseum.