Community hub
Recent from talks
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Jan van Wechelen
Jan van Wechelen or Hans van Wechelen (c. 1530 – 1570) was a Flemish painter and draughtsman active in Antwerp in the middle of the 16th century known for his landscapes, biblical subjects and genre scenes.
Details about his life are scarce. Jan van Wechelen was born some time between 1530 and 1537.
He is first mentioned in 1557 as Jan van Wechlen, the master of an apprentice by the name of Hans de Boeys in the records of the Guild of Saint Luke in Antwerp. He is known for his collaborations with Cornelis van Dalem.
Only a few works by Jan van Wechelen are known to exist as most of his oeuvre was destroyed by war and the Iconoclasm of the 16th century. The majority of these are landscapes and religious scenes. His oeuvre also includes a few genres scenes and an architectural painting of a church interior. The artist's work enjoyed an excellent reputation at the beginning of the 17th century and was collected by Rubens as well as the prominent art collectors Cornelis van der Geest and Pieter Stevens.
Jan van Wechelen collaborated regularly with fellow Antwerp artist Cornelis van Dalem. Van Wechelen was a gifted staffage painter and his dignified figures are regarded as well suited to van Dalem's landscapes. At least three such collaborations between the two artists are suspected. This includes a Landscape with nomads (also known as Landscape with gypsies at the Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe. This painting likely represents a family of gypsies as a seated woman wears the distinctive oval white hat which was a common indicator for a gypsy woman in 16th century Flemish paintings.
An interesting genre painting made in collaboration with Cornelis van Dalem is the composition The Legend of the Baker of Eeklo. The original of the painting is lost but a presumed copy of the original is part of the collection of the Rijksmuseum and is on loan to the Muiderslot. There also exist many versions said to have been made by the circle of, or after Cornelis van Dalem and Jan van Wechelen. The composition was engraved by Frederik Bouttats the Younger.
The painting depicts a legend told about the citizens of Eeklo in Flanders. When they were unhappy with the look of their heads, they would go to the village bakery. There the baker and his assistants would lop off their heads and place cabbages on their necks to stem the bleeding. The improved heads would then be kneaded and rolled, rubbed with a new finish, baked in the oven and ultimately replaced. The composition recounts the whole process. However, there was always the risk that a new head would fail to bake, or over-bake, thus resulting in a deformed or deficient head. There is a scene of a woman holding a severed head who is having a discussion with the baker dressed in red. She is probably trying to return the head of her husband with which she is not happy. This story had a moral and cautionary message to those who were dissatisfied with their appearance and wanted to do something drastic about it.
A composition entitled Church interior with Christ preaching to a crowd (Rijksmuseum) is attributed to a collaboration between van Wechelen and van Dalem. It shows a large church interior with a crowd of people in contemporary as well as foreign dress who are listening to Jesus Christ who is preaching while seated near a column. The interior of the church is quite barren and the only decorations seen are some sculptures high on the columns. Various scenes are depicted in the interior of the church such as priests chasing away children, a man with a walking stick and a dog who is accosted by a man in thorn clothes (a beggar?), some dogs sniffing each other, a couple flirting, a man with a shovel etc.
Hub AI
Jan van Wechelen AI simulator
(@Jan van Wechelen_simulator)
Jan van Wechelen
Jan van Wechelen or Hans van Wechelen (c. 1530 – 1570) was a Flemish painter and draughtsman active in Antwerp in the middle of the 16th century known for his landscapes, biblical subjects and genre scenes.
Details about his life are scarce. Jan van Wechelen was born some time between 1530 and 1537.
He is first mentioned in 1557 as Jan van Wechlen, the master of an apprentice by the name of Hans de Boeys in the records of the Guild of Saint Luke in Antwerp. He is known for his collaborations with Cornelis van Dalem.
Only a few works by Jan van Wechelen are known to exist as most of his oeuvre was destroyed by war and the Iconoclasm of the 16th century. The majority of these are landscapes and religious scenes. His oeuvre also includes a few genres scenes and an architectural painting of a church interior. The artist's work enjoyed an excellent reputation at the beginning of the 17th century and was collected by Rubens as well as the prominent art collectors Cornelis van der Geest and Pieter Stevens.
Jan van Wechelen collaborated regularly with fellow Antwerp artist Cornelis van Dalem. Van Wechelen was a gifted staffage painter and his dignified figures are regarded as well suited to van Dalem's landscapes. At least three such collaborations between the two artists are suspected. This includes a Landscape with nomads (also known as Landscape with gypsies at the Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe. This painting likely represents a family of gypsies as a seated woman wears the distinctive oval white hat which was a common indicator for a gypsy woman in 16th century Flemish paintings.
An interesting genre painting made in collaboration with Cornelis van Dalem is the composition The Legend of the Baker of Eeklo. The original of the painting is lost but a presumed copy of the original is part of the collection of the Rijksmuseum and is on loan to the Muiderslot. There also exist many versions said to have been made by the circle of, or after Cornelis van Dalem and Jan van Wechelen. The composition was engraved by Frederik Bouttats the Younger.
The painting depicts a legend told about the citizens of Eeklo in Flanders. When they were unhappy with the look of their heads, they would go to the village bakery. There the baker and his assistants would lop off their heads and place cabbages on their necks to stem the bleeding. The improved heads would then be kneaded and rolled, rubbed with a new finish, baked in the oven and ultimately replaced. The composition recounts the whole process. However, there was always the risk that a new head would fail to bake, or over-bake, thus resulting in a deformed or deficient head. There is a scene of a woman holding a severed head who is having a discussion with the baker dressed in red. She is probably trying to return the head of her husband with which she is not happy. This story had a moral and cautionary message to those who were dissatisfied with their appearance and wanted to do something drastic about it.
A composition entitled Church interior with Christ preaching to a crowd (Rijksmuseum) is attributed to a collaboration between van Wechelen and van Dalem. It shows a large church interior with a crowd of people in contemporary as well as foreign dress who are listening to Jesus Christ who is preaching while seated near a column. The interior of the church is quite barren and the only decorations seen are some sculptures high on the columns. Various scenes are depicted in the interior of the church such as priests chasing away children, a man with a walking stick and a dog who is accosted by a man in thorn clothes (a beggar?), some dogs sniffing each other, a couple flirting, a man with a shovel etc.