Petrus Kremer - The Painter Adriaen Brouwer In Spanish Prison

Petrus KREMER Antwerp, 1801 - Antwerp, 1888 Oil on wood panel 72 x 56.5 cm (85 x 72 cm with the frame) Old label on the back Beautiful carved and gilded wooden frame of the early 19th century
Visible at the gallery
Petrus Kremer is a Belgian painter born in 1801 in Antwerp. He is one of the painters who represented the history of the famous Flemish, in particular its painters (Rubens, Snyders, Brouwer...). Our painting represents the painter Brouwer (who can be recognized from the portrait by Anton Dyck and engraved by Schelte Adams Bolswert) in prison. He had been suspected of espionage by the Spanish (Spanish soldiers on the left). A famous episode in the life of a Flemish painter represented in the form of a genre scene, but with a picturesque side with its beautiful colors and a dramatic side by the light and the composition (one would think one was on a theater stage). The painting is not signed but is characteristic of Petrus Kremer's production. And we recognize certain recurring motifs in his paintings such as the pitcher placed at the bottom left and the easel and palette on the right, which we find in his paintings on the life of Flemish painters.