David Teniers

David Teniers, called Teniers the Younger (1610-1690), Flemish painter, son of painter David Teniers, the Elder. Little is known of the latter’s life, although numerous paintings have been ascribed to him.

David Teniers the Younger was born in Antwerp, and may have received artistic training from his father. His early work, religious subjects and peasant genre scenes, shows the influence of Jan Brueghel, his father-in-law; of Frans Francken II; and of Adriaen Brouwer. David the Younger’s best work, which dates from the 1640s, is notable for its refinement, delicacy, and silvery coloration. He was a prolific painter and his genre scenes of peasant life were much in demand by the Netherlandish aristocracy. The latter include such canvases as Flemish Country Fair (1652, Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts, Brussels) and Smokers in an Inn (circa 1650, Staatliche Galerie, Schwerin, Germany).

In 1645 David the Younger was appointed Dean of the Antwerp Guild of Painters. He also became court painter to Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria, governor of the Austrian Netherlands, and was placed in charge of the archduke’s collection of paintings. Teniers made many copies both of these and of Venetian Renaissance paintings.