| A leading Flemish artist ranked just below Rubens and van Dyck, Brouwer was one of the principal originators of seventeenth-century Flemish genre painting. An admirable interpreter of the human psyche as well as a gifted observer and narrator, Brouwer also introduced the low-life genre to neighboring Holland. There he spurred more interest in low-life subjects than David Vinckeboons and Adriaen van de Venne had been able to stimulate. Few documents describe Brouwer's career. The son of a tapestry designer, Adriaen may have learned drawing from his father and early in life he reportedly drew designs on linen for sale to peasants. Houbraken reports Brouwer's study with Frans Hals in Haarlem, where he is described as a gifted fellow pupil with Adriaen van Ostade, whom he likely inspired. In 1625 Brouwer left for Amsterdam, and the following year he is documented in Haarlem as a member of the Haarlem chamber of rhetoricians (to which Hals also belonged). By 1631 Brouwer was in Antwerp, became a member of the painters guild in 1631/2, and had his first apprentice, Jean Baptiste d'Andois. Brouwer must have had financial difficulties since an inventory of his belongings was drawn up by a creditor in 1632. In late 1632 or Febuary 1633, Brouwer was made a prisoner of the state for reasons still unknown. His debts or his foreign status may have been the cause. He befriended the prison baker, Joos van Craesbaeck, lived with him after his release, and taught him painting. Brouwer joined the Antwerp rhetoricians' society and performed in some of their plays. He was a friend of Jan de Heem and Jan Lievens, and his work was greatly admired by Rubens (who owned seventeen examples) and Rembrandt (who had an album and six paintings). Van Dyck painted Brouwer's portrait, and it was engraved by Schelderic van Bolswert for the Iconography. It is uncertain whether Brouwer died of dissolution, as early biographers suggest, or if he perished in the plague that hit Antwerp in 1638. Brouwer's oeuvre and development is somewhat difficult to trace owing to lack of dates and to the many imitators he inspired. Nevertheless, his early work shows Brouwer following the Flemish tradition of Pieter Brueghel the Elder, Once in Holland, Brouwer adopted the prevailing tonal style of painting. In Antwerp, Brouwer developed a broader brushmark and his figure groupings became tighter. His subjects included people smoking, drinking, eating, and generally engaged in boisterous amusement. His characters are raw, direct, and unabashed. Brouwer's scenes of peasant life are called a mixture of naturalism and irony. They often contain a moral message but are sympathetically characterized and acutely observed. Brouwer's accepted oeuvre is relatively small; signed works are rare: a notable work is the Peasants and Spanish Soldiers at a Table in the Antwerp citadel (Brussels). A handful of monogrammed works survive as well. Besides his importance to the development of genre painting in Flanders and Holland, Brouwer's landscapes (though rare) are considered modern in their conception, and important to the development of Jan Lievens while he was in Antwerp. Brouwer had a host of imitators, of which Joos van Craesbaeck, David Teniers (who copied his works), David Ryckaert, A. Diepram, Egbert van Heemskert, and P. Quast are notable. In Holland Adriaen van Ostade, Jan Steen, Cornelis Saftleven, and Hendrick Sorgh were his most important followers. |
