Saturday, April 18, 2009

inventory

David Teniers the Younger [1610-1690], Archduke Leopold Wilhelm in His Picture Gallery, 1653.

"Teniers was the Flemish court painter, as Rubens had been previously, building up his collection with paintings bought from the dismembered collection of the executed Charles I of England. In this painting there are recognizable pictures by Titian, Reni, Bellini, Giorgione, Tintoretto, Veronese, Rubens, and others. It is a window into the new world of collecting that was developing. Royalty were competing all over Europe to outdo each other with the Old Masters they could buy."