Lucas van Valckenborch
gigatos | January 18, 2022
Summary
Lucas van Valckenborch (also Valckenborg and Valckenborch) (Leuven, 1535 – Frankfort, buried February 2, 1597) was a Brabant painter who painted mainly landscapes and genre pieces. He was influenced by the style of Pieter Bruegel the Elder.
The Protestant Valckenborch left Mechelen in 1566, along with his brother (or uncle) Marten, Hans Vredeman de Vries and Hendrik Steenwijk the Elder. He first settled in Antwerp, then traveled to Liege and Aachen.
They would have returned to Antwerp where Lucas came into contact with Landvoogd Matthias who was the Landvoogd of the Habsburg Netherlands from 1577 to 1581. Lucas entered the service of the governor in 1579. When Matthias resigned his office in 1581 Valckenborch followed his master to Linz. In 1592
His brother (or uncle) Marten van Valckenborch and his sons Gillis van Valckenborch and Frederik van Valckenborch were also painters.
Lucas van Valckenborch was a landscape and genre painter following Pieter Bruegel the Elder. He had a preference for paintings of the seasons with scenes of peasants at work or feasting and sometimes with religious figures. In addition, he painted market scenes placed during the different seasons. The landscapes are sometimes topographically accurate, although they follow the old concept of the so-called “world landscape” and thus were in fact created from imagination. Although formally based on the concept of landscape painting with human figures popularized by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Lucas van Valckenborch”s works are distinguished by their emphasis on a realistic depiction of peasant life in an almost documentary manner. One example is Landscape with Dancing Peasants (in the Hermitage), in which he also included a self-portrait of himself accompanied by Joris Hoefnagel and Abraham Ortelius.
He also painted portraits for governor Matthias.
Lucas van Valkenborch is mentioned by the German writer W.G. Sebald in his book Austerlitz in which he describes the painting View of Antwerp with the frozen Scheldt (1590).
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