River Landscape

1610 · Private collection

landscape

Mirou was a leading member of the group of artists known as the Frankenthal school. His Frankenthal-period landscapes, of which this is undoubtedly one, have their own distinct character and are influenced to a great degree by his fellow Frankenthal painter Gillis van Coninxloo. A majority of Mirou's landscapes, unlike many of those of his contemporaries, are distinctive for the richly dressed figures that populate their woody paths.

About the Artist

Anton Mirou

1578 – 1627

Flemish painter and draughtsman. Around 1580, various painters of his name were registered as members of the Antwerp Guild of St Luke. His Protestant family, like many others from Flanders and Brabant, took refuge from religious persecution in Frankenthal, under the protection of the Elector Palatine and staunch Calvinist, Frederick III. Mirou's father, the apothecary Hendrik Mirou, is documented repeatedly in Frankenthal from 1586. On 8 May 1602 Antoine married Suzanna van Coninxloo there, and he is frequently mentioned in the local archives until 1620, when he presumably returned to Antwerp. He is counted among the most distinguished of the landscape artists often referred to as the Frankenthal School, the best known of whom is Gillis van Coninxloo. Van Coninxloo had a strong influence on Mirou's style, either through direct contact or, more probably, via the work of another Frankenthal artist, Pieter Schoubroeck.

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