Portrait of a Family (The Visit)

Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Antwerp

portrait

A partiality for an ostentatious presentation is a stylistic characteristic of late-seventeenth-century Flemish painting in general and is also a response to the changing attitudes of the clientele. It can be found also in Theodor Boeyermans's The Visit. In its balanced structure and the controlled elegance of its figures the same classicist trend that is so conspicuous in his altarpieces can be seen.

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About the Artist

Theodor Boeyermans

1620 – 1678

Flemish painter. In 1634 his mother was granted a free passage to Holland and moved to Eindhoven, presumably with the 14-year-old Theodor. In April 1640 he was granted permission in Antwerp for another visit north, where he probably finished his studies. He may have followed an artistic education in the studio of Van Dyck as the master's influence is noticeable in his works. From the autumn of 1648 he was back in Antwerp permanently, living in De Gulden Pers (The Golden Press), the house where he was born. He remained a bachelor and at the relatively late age of 34 became an apprentice and joined the Guild of St Luke. He painted altarpieces in many churches in Flanders. He was also a member of the Sodaliteit der Bejaarde Jongmans (Society of Bachelors) and, from 1664, the rhetoricians' chamber known as De Olijftak (The Olive Branch).

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