Painting Detail
Landscape with a Rural FestivalArtist: Lucas van Valckenborch
Medium: Painting, Oil on canvas, 48.5x73.4 cm
Date: Late 1580s - early 1590s
Genre: Landscape
Source: Collection of Duke de Choiseul, Paris, 1772
Lucas van Valkenborch (also "Valckenborch," "Valkenborgh") (c. 1535 - 2 February 1597) was a Flemish painter of mainly landscapes, portraits and allegorical scenes.
His style was close to Pieter Brueghel the Elder, but he modified this influence in a personal manner and was not a slavish copyist. His work was rooted in the same Flemish tradition, without following the newer Mannerist movement.
His landscapes generally followed the conventions of composition, with panoramic scenes from a high viewpoint. He relied, however, more on first-hand observation of nature and he made paintings of actual places, rather than the fantastic landscapes of other Flemish landscape painters. He also created some close-up representations of forest landscapes. He also painted some a series of large pictures depicting the labours of the months in the mid-1580s.
He also painted portraits for his patron Emperor Matthias. He was further a figure painter as is shown in a series of nine allegories of the seasons painted in Frankfurt from 1592.
Lucas van Valkenborch paintings:
- Landscape in Spring
- Landscape in Summer
- Landscape with a Rural Festival
- The Massacre of the Innocents
- Mountainous Landscape
- Rocky Landscape
- The Tower of Babel
- View of Antwerp with the Frozen Scheldt
- View of Huy from Ahin