Willem Augustin van Minderhout

Willem Augustin van Minderhout (August 1680 – 31 May 1752), was a Flemish painter. After training and working in Antwerp, he moved later in his career to work in the area of Moravia (now in the Czech Republic). He is known for his architectural paintings with figures enjoying themselves with dance, masquerades and other forms of entertainment, and his church interiors. He may also have painted some marine scenes, which was the specialty of his father.

Life Van Minderhout was born in Antwerp and baptised on 29 August 1680. He was born as the son of Hendrik van Minderhout and his father's second wife, Anna Victoria Claus. His father was a Dutch-born marine painter who was primarily active in the Flemish cities Bruges and Antwerp. Willem Augustin had an older brother, Antoon, who was also a painter.

Very little is known about Willem Augustin's training and early career. Unlike his brother, there is no record of him registering as a pupil or a master at the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke. He likely trained with his father and then worked in his father's workshop. He worked on the decoration of the palace halls in Kroměříž Castle, the principal residence of the bishops of Olomouc. At the time Cardinal Ferdinad Julius Troyer (1745–1758) was the resident bishop.

He died in Střílky, Moravia, on 31 May 1752. The painter Jacobus Ferdinandus Saey regularly painted the fantastic architecture for Hieronymus Janssens' ball scenes. Antwerp painter Jacob Balthasar Peeters, whose work must have been familiar to van Minderhout as he was a pupil of his father, also painted fantastic architectures with elegant figures in exotic costumes. In addition to these homegrown sources, van Minderhout may also have drawn inspiration for his masquerade pictures from Claude Gillot's prints of comedia dell'arte scenes, and the work of the Flemish painter Hendrick Govaerts from Antwerp, who was also active in Central Europe.