Marten van Valckenborch

Marten van Valckenborch or Marten van Valckenborch the Elder (1535 in Leuven – 1612 in Frankfurt), was a Flemish Renaissance painter, mainly known for his landscapes and city scapes.

Life Marten van Valckenborch was born in Leuven in what would become one of the most prominent Flemish families of artists. Spanning three generations, 14 artists are recorded in the family of whom his younger brother Lucas the Elder and his own sons, Frederik van Valckenborch and Gillis van Valckenborch, were the most important personalities.

Marten joined the Guild of St Luke in Mechelen on 13 August 1559. On 3 December 1563 Gysbrecht Jaspers was recorded as his pupil. In 1564 Marten moved to Antwerp, where his brother Geraard van Valckenborch trained with him until 1568. Marten became a citizen of Aachen in 1573. On 7 July 1586 Marten became a citizen of Frankfurt, together with his son-in-law Hendrik van Steenwijk the elder.

Marten and his brother operated in Frankfurt a large workshop, which his sons Gillis and Frederik joined. Marten died in 1612 in Frankfurt.

He painted, like his brother Lucas, a number of mining scenes, which were probably based on his drawings of scenes along the Meuse river valley around present-day Huy in Belgium. There he had likely witnessed and sketched mining activities related to the iron industry. Some of his paintings of mining scenes such as River valley with iron mining scenes provide detailed depictions of the mining and smelting process of the late 16th and early 17th century.

Marten van Valckenborch regularly returned to the subject of the Tower of Babel, which was also depicted by Pieter Bruegel the Elder and later by a whole range of Flemish artists. The subject of the Tower of Babel is usually interpreted as a critique of human hubris, and in particular of the Roman Catholic Church which at the time was undertaking at great expense large-scale construction projects such as the St. Peter's Basilica. However, it has also been viewed as a celebration of technical progress, which would herald a better and more organized world.