Allegory of the Arts

Private collection

mythological

This panel depicts a female figure, the personification of Painting, being crowned with laurel leaves, a traditional symbol of the arts, by the male personification of Poetry. Toorenvliet's work is rooted in the traditions of the Leiden school of painting. The so-called fijnschilders (fine-painters), specialised in scenes full of minute detail, executed in a highly polished style.

About the Artist

Jacob Toorenvliet

1640 – 1719

Dutch painter, one of the Leiden "Fijnschilders" ("Fine Painters"). He was a painter of portraits and crowded, vivacious genre scenes. His works are characterised by a strong contrast of light and dark, in spite of their overall cool greyishness. Toorenvliet was trained by his father Abraham, a glass painter and draughtsman working in Leiden. In 1670 he went to Rome where he joined the Schildersbent, the society of Dutch and Flemish painters living there. He is recorded as living in Venice in 1673, and, from 1676 until 1679, in Vienna, and there is also documentary evidence of his presence in Leiden and Amsterdam in 1680. As of 1686 Toorenvliet was a member of the Leiden Academy of Painting, and in 1703 he was mentioned as its Dean. He was one of the founders of the Leiden Academy of Drawing in 1694, and in 1712 he was appointed Professor of Drawing. In 1717 he was registered in the guild books as 'informator pingendi.'

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