The Paradise and the Four Elements

mythological

In 1606, Hendrik de Clerck became painter to the archducal court in Brussels. Until then he had almost exclusively produced monumental altarpieces and other devotional pictures, now he started to devote himself to painting cabinet pieces. He specialized in biblical scenes, and in particular mythological and allegorical representations for the landscapes of his fellow townsmen Jan Brueghel the Elder and Denis van Alsloot.

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About the Artist

Hendrik de Clerck

1570 – 1630

Clerck was a Flemish painter. He spent the greater part of his successful career in Brussels. He was the pupil of Marten de Vos and carried the Mannerist tradition far into the 17th century. In 1606 he was appointed Court Painter to Archduke Albert. He was primarily a painter of altarpieces and a characteristic example of his style is the Family of the Virgin (Musées Royaux, Brussels. 1590), with its Italianate figures clad in restless draperies and placed in a coldly classical building.

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