Adriaen Thomasz. Key

Adriaen Thomasz. Key ( in Antwerpafter 1589 in Antwerp) was a Flemish painter of portraits and religious paintings, a draughtsman and a printmaker. He worked for a while in the Antwerp workshop of the prominent history and portrait painter Willem Key and later took over the workshop. His work was highly regarded in his time for its technical mastery and innovative concepts and thus influenced a later generation of painters including Rubens.

Life Very little is known about the origins and early life of Adriaen Thomasz. Key. Research has demonstrated that contrary to what was believed traditionally, his family name was not Key and he was no relation of Willem Key. He only adopted the Key family name after taking over the workshop of Willem Key in 1567. Before that time he only used the monogram AT and the artist was referred to solely as Adriaen Thomasz. (meaning Adriaen, son of Thomas). It is clear that the reason why he adopted the family name is that Willem Key and his workshop enjoyed a high reputation and using Key as his family name was a good branding tool for his own work.

He was likely born in Antwerp around 1544. His father's first name was Thomas. He trained initially under the glass painter Jan Hack III and was registered as a pupil at the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke in the guild year 1558. He became linked to the workshop of Willem Key at an early age and Willem Key is regarded as another master of Adriaen.

In his portraits, the sitters are typically represented at half-, bust- or three quarter-length and against a neutral background. They are painted with great technical perfection and fidelity to nature. At the time this portrait was painted, William the Silent was at the height of his career. This can also be seen in the portrait. He is not shown in armour, but in neat and opulent civilian clothes.

In his religious and devotional works, Key reacted to the objections raised by his Calvinist brethren who had launched the destruction of religious art on religious grounds during the Beeldenstorm of 1566. His solution was to abandon the iconographic tradition and to return to the language of the bible as a source. This led him to limit the iconography in his religious works to a minimum. An example of this is his Last Supper (Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp, 1575, monogrammed) in which he re-invents this famous scene from the Bible using the device of the portrait historié, i.e. depicting historical figures through contemporary figures, including himself. In the Last Supper Saint Peter and the brown-haired apostle behind Judas are clearly historical figures while the servant is possibly a self-portrait in the servant on the right. Similarly, in the Adoration of the Magi (Lempertz (Cologne) 11 May 2013 auction, lot 1019) the head of the young man with individualised facial features in the upper left corner may be a self-portrait. In leaving out the African king, Key has also strictly followed the biblical sources which do not mention such a king.

Key made a number of woodcuts of biblical scenes. An example is the Nebuchadnezzar casting Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego into the fiery furnace of circa 1558. The woodcut is taken from Daniel 3:22–26. Nebuchadnezzar, the King of Babylon, orders the Israelites Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego to be cast into a furnace for refusing to worship his golden idol. When their captors try to execute the sentence they are themselves killed by the heat while the Israelites remain unharmed. The woodcut contains many of the elements in Philips Galle's engraving of Nebuchadnezzar Casting the Children of Israel into the Fiery Furnace after a design by Maarten van Heemskerck, but with an increased emphasis on the role of the king. Nebuchadnezzar is in the center of the composition, both arms extended, while the Israelites in the furnace are in the background. The message of the bible story and the woodcut is to show that through God's grace his obedient worshippers are saved while the unfaithful perish.