Gillis van Valckenborch

Gillis van Valckenborch or Egidius van Valckenborch (1570 in Antwerp – end of March or 1 April 1622 in Frankfurt am Main) was a Flemish painter and draughtsman who spent most of his career in Germany. He was a member of the van Valckenborch dynasty of painters who painted mainly landscapes. Unlike his family members, he is mainly known for his large-scale compositions with many swirling figures depicting scenes from ancient history or mythology. While his landscape drawings evidence his interest in landscape art no landscape paintings have been attributed to him.

Life Gillis van Valckenborch was born into a well-known family of artists. The van Valckenborch family was particularly known in the Spanish Netherlands for landscape painting.

Originally from Leuven, Marten van Valckenborch moved to Antwerp in the 1560s. Like many other families in the region who had become Calvinists, Marten moved with his family from the Spanish-occupied Spanish Netherlands to the more liberal environment of Frankfurt am Main, which was a German imperial outpost.

Gillis van Valckenborch received his earliest training in Antwerp possibly from his brother Frederik. On 4 October 1596 or 1597 Gillis van Valckenborch married Barbara van Hilden of Frankfurt. The couple had many children of whom their son Gillis the younger became a painter. Gillis the elder was accepted as a burgher of Frankfurt am Main on 24 February 1597. Just like his brother Frederik he was required to undergo a theological test before he was admitted as a burgher since they were suspected of being Gnesio-Lutherans. He remained active in his adopted hometown where he died. He worked in a late Mannerist style.

Gillis van Valckenborch painted biblical and mythological scenes and figures, as well as protagonists from Greek and Roman history set in landscapes. A characteristic feature of his work is the lively colouring, for which he primarily used pink and light blue hues. He often returned to the theme of the Feast of the Gods. The most famous rendering of this theme is kept in the collection of Count Schönborn-Wiesentheit in Pommersfelden castle.