Lucas Smout the Younger

Lucas Smout the Younger or Lucas Smaut (27 February 1671 – 8 April 1713) was a Flemish painter of coastal and country scenes who was active in Antwerp. His landscapes are typically crowded with many people engaged in various activities.

Life Details about the life of Lucas Smout are scarce. He was born in Antwerp as the youngest child of the painter and art dealer Lucas Smout the Elder and Anna Maria Tijssens. His father had studied under Artus Wolffort and was a figure painter. His brother Dominicus (or Domien) became a genre painter while two of his sisters married painters. His father died in 1674 and his mother in 1686. His sister Clara Catharina continued to operate the art and painting materials business of her parents. Upon discovering Lucas' artistic talent, she sent him to study art under a master.

Smout was active in Antwerp throughout his career but must have visited the Dutch Republic since he painted a few views of Scheveningen beach. Smout was not very productive as he suffered from gout, which affected his hands. This may also be the reason why he remained unmarried and lived in the house of his eldest sister Clara Catharina who was married to the painter Gonzales Franciscus Casteels.

He died in Antwerp in 1713.

Only a few works by his hand are known. He painted a number of coastal scenes depicting various activities relating to the return of fishing boats with their catch or the loading of vessels. They include a view of The Beach of Scheveningen (Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp). This work is typical of Smout's busy compositions: it includes many groups of people and a wide range of activities taking place on the beach, such as pulling fishing boats onto the land, men hauling wood, soldiers transporting two gun barrels, fishmongers and on the far right - next to a cannon - a man drawing, which is likely a self-portrait.

Smout painted some village scenes with feasts such as the Village square (Christie's, 19 March 2010, Paris, lot 75) or a cavalry engagement such as A cavalry skirmish in a village (Christie's, 23 May 2000, New York, lot 279).