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Adriaen Brouwer

c. 1605-1638 Flemish/Baroque

 

Brief Biography-Adriaen Brouwer from Flanders is said to have been a pupil of Frans Hals in Haarlem and Adriaen van Ostade was a fellow student. Rumour had it that Hals mistreated him by overworking him. He moved to Antwerp in 1631, where he was impressed by Rubens when the Guild of Saint Luke and the rhetoricians’ chamber De Violieren admitted him. He was jailed by the Spaniards for political goings-on or spying in 1633. His prison baker, Joos van Craesbeck, became a friend and pupil. Rubens visited Duke D’Arenberg in the same prison and had Brouwer released. He gave him lodgings that Brouwer considered not much better than the prison, and Brouwer left Rubens due to his ill temper. Not long afterwards, he died due to a dissolute way of life.
His primary subjects were peasants smoking, drinking, and brawling in taverns. However, he did landscapes, and his work is of the Dutch character. In his later years, he painted numerous works in monochrome. Dirck Hals, the younger brother of Frans Hals, influenced his work. Anthony van Dyck painted his portrait in 1631-2. Rubens and Rembrandt collected many of his paintings, inspiring Jan Steen and David Teniers.

 

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a boor asleep

a boor asleep


a smoking room

a smoking room

peasants brawling
over cards

peasants brawling over cards


brawling peasants

brawling peasants


card players

card players


cardplayers in an inn

cardplayers in an inn

drunken peasant
in a tavern

drunken peasant in a tavern


feeling

feeling


in the tavern

in the tavern

inn with drunken
peasants

inn with drunken peasants


interior of a tavern

interior of a tavern


peasants fighting

peasants fighting


peasants of moerdyck

peasants of moerdyck

peasants smoking
and drinking

peasants smoking and drinking

 


seated drinkers

seated drinkers


smell

smell


tavern scene

tavern scene


the back operation

the back operation


the bitter draught

the bitter draught


the operation

the operation


the smoker

the smoker


the smokers

the smokers


youth making a face

youth making a face


twilight landscape

twilight landscape

dune landscape
by moonlight

dune landscape by moonlight

adriaen brouwer by
anthony van dyck

adriaen brouwer by anthony van dyck