Jordaens and the antique

Jacques Jordaens (15931678) was a Flemish Baroque painter whose work has largely been overshadowed by his contemporaries Peter Paul Rubens and Anthony van Dyck. Providing new insight on the artist as well as art historical context for his works, Jordaens and the Antique emphasizes his strategic intelligence with respect to imagery and the art market and challenges the common characterization of Jordaens as a bourgeois artist of genre scenes.
Jordaens work is examined as an example of classical culture being introduced into the commercial and intellectual life of Antwerp. He was an artist with an unusual talent for conveying imagery from classical literature, ranging from The Satyr and the Peasant to Diogenes Searching for an Honest Man. Focusing on the theme of antiquity, this volume features more than one hundred paintings, drawings, tapestries and sculptures from private collections and major museums, including the Museo Nacional del Prado in Spain and the Statens Museum for Kunst in Denmark.

Joost Vander Auwera is professor in art history at Ghent University and curator at the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels.
Irene Schaudies is scientific attaché at the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels.

Accompanies the exhibition at the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels (12 October 2012 27 January 2013) / Fridericianum, Museumlandschaft Hessen, Kassel (1 March 16 June 2013)