Archduke Leopold Wilhelm in his Painting Gallery in Brussels (Prado)

The Archduke Leopold Wilhelm in his Painting Gallery in Brussels
ArtistDavid Teniers the Younger
Year1647–1651
Mediumoil on copper
Dimensions104.8 cm × 130.4 cm (41.3 in × 51.3 in)
LocationPrado Museum, Madrid

The Archduke Leopold Wilhelm in his Painting Gallery in Brussels is a 1651 painting of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm's Italian art collection by the Flemish Baroque painter David Teniers the Younger, now held in the Prado in Madrid.[1]

Description

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The painting shows the Archduke as a collector with friends admiring a set of paintings. The artist himself is standing at a table inspecting engravings. The paintings are arranged in rows on rear walls, with more visible through a central doorway, and a set that are positioned in the foreground leaning against chairs for inspection.

History

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This painting is one of a set that David Teniers the Younger prepared to document the Archduke's collection before he employed 12 engravers to publish his Theatrum Pictorium, considered the "first illustrated art catalog". He published this book of engravings after the Archduke had moved to Austria and taken his collection with him. It was published in Antwerp in 1659 and again in 1673.[2]

The Archduke commissioned this painting as a gift for Philip IV of Spain, possibly to show off the magnificence of his Brussels gallery after his recent Italian painting acquisitions from the estate sale of the Duke of Hamilton.[1]

List of paintings depicted

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The following is a list of the recognizable paintings of the collection, not all of which were included in the Italian catalog prepared by Teniers, which was a selection of 243 of the most prized paintings out of a collection of 1300–1400 pieces. Many are still in the Viennese collection. Here is a list of the paintings depicted, which starts with the paintings on the rear wall, running from left to right and from top to bottom. Next listed are the paintings in the foreground propped against chairs:

image article painter year collection inventory nr. catalog code
Nymph and Shepherd Titian 1570s Kunsthistorisches Museum GG_1825 60
Judith with the head of Holofernes Alessandro Varotari 1630s Kunsthistorisches Museum GG_80 37
Diana and Callisto Titian 1568 Kunsthistorisches Museum GG_71 96
Portrait of Francesco Donato David Teniers the Younger 1650s Museo del Prado P07615 98
Danaë Titian 1554 Kunsthistorisches Museum GG_90 74
David with the Head of Goliath Giorgione 1510 Kunsthistorisches Museum GG_74 25
Penitent St. Peter Jusepe de Ribera 1630s Kunsthistorisches Museum GG_345 142
Aeneas called away from Dido Andrea Schiavone 1655 Kunsthistorisches Museum GG_5816 137
Tobit and the Dead Israelite David Teniers the Younger after Domenico Fetti 1650s Courtauld Gallery P.1978.PG.434 214
unknown
Aeneas Takes Leave of Dido Andrea Schiavone 1555 Kunsthistorisches Museum GG_5818 135
Adoration of the Kings Paolo Veronese 1585 Kunsthistorisches Museum GG_1515 123
Descent from the Cross Tintoretto 1547 Kunsthistorisches Museum GG_1565 109
Raising the Young Man of Nain Paolo Veronese 1560s Kunsthistorisches Museum GG_52 124
Laura Giorgione 1506s Kunsthistorisches Museum GG_31
Portrait of a man unknown
Burial Domenico Fetti
Rest on the Flight into Egypt (Titian) Titian Longleat 62
Left panel San Cassiano Altarpiece Antonello da Messina 1475 Kunsthistorisches Museum GG_7727 4
Lady with an Ermine Titian 94
The Good Samaritan Francesco Bassano the Younger 1575 Kunsthistorisches Museum GG_12 152
Toilet of Venus David Teniers the Younger 1655 Philadelphia Museum of Art Cat. 696 30
Scipio Africanus Andrea Schiavone 1555 Kunsthistorisches Museum GG_1558 138
Christ and the Adulteress Titian 1520 Kunsthistorisches Museum GG_114 67
Young Woman in Green Dress Palma Vecchio 1513 Kunsthistorisches Museum GG_66 196
Shepherds and Sheep David Teniers the Younger 1650s Metropolitan Museum of Art 89.15.22
Portrait of Giorgione?
Portrait of Titian?
Portrait of Leonardo da Vinci?
Portrait of an unknown man in a fur coat
Venus and Cupid Paris Bordone 1545–1550 National Museum in Warsaw M.Ob.628 211
The Circumcision Rubens 1605 Chiesa del Gesù e dei Santi Ambrogio e Andrea church, Genoa
The Three Philosophers Giorgione 1500s Kunsthistorisches Museum GG_111 20
Portrait of an unknown man in a fur coat
Saint Luke painting the Virgin Jan Gossaert 1510s Kunsthistorisches Museum GG_894
Saint Sebastian Paolo Veronese 1565 Kunsthistorisches Museum GG_1538 114
Saint Margaret and the Dragon Raphael 1518 Kunsthistorisches Museum GG_171 2
Woman with a Mirror Titian 1515 Louvre INV 755
Violante Titian 1515s Kunsthistorisches Museum GG_65 194
Central panel San Cassiano Altarpiece Antonello da Messina 1475 Kunsthistorisches Museum GG_2574 5
Portrait of Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia as a nun Anthony van Dyck 1627 Kunsthistorisches Museum GG_496

References

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Cited sources

  1. ^ a b P01813 in the Prado collection
  2. ^ Online version of the Theatrum Pictorium, 1673

Further reading