Gaspar de Crayer

Gaspar de Crayer or Jasper de Crayer (18 November 1584 – 27 January 1669) was a Flemish painter known for his many Counter-Reformation altarpieces and portraits. He was a court painter to the governors of the Southern Netherlands and worked in the principal cities of Flanders where he helped spread the Rubens style.

Gaspar de Crayer was born in Antwerp as the son of Gaspard de Crayer the Elder, a decorative painter, illuminator and art dealer. Rather than stay in Antwerp, he looked for opportunity in the capital Brussels. He is believed to have studied under Raphael Coxie, the court painter of the governors of the Spanish Netherlands Albert VII, Archduke of Austria and Isabella Clara Eugenia. He became a master in the Brussels Guild of Saint Luke in 1607. He was a dean of the Guild from 1611 to 1616 and was a member of the Brussels city council in 1626-1627. He remained in Brussels until 1664.

Gaspar de Crayer's early works include portraits of the kings of Spain and the Spanish governors and officials who were stationed in the Spanish Netherlands as well as members of the Brussels city council. For example, the Equestrian portrait of Don Diego Messia Felipe de Guzmán (Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna) was painted by de Crayer in 1627-1628. In addition, from the beginning of his career de Crayer received orders for altarpieces to decorate several churches and monasteries around Brussels. Not until 1635 did Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand of Austria, brother of King Philip IV of Spain and governor of the Spanish Netherlands after the death of his aunt Isabella Clara Eugenia in 1633, make him his first court painter. He later worked as a court painter for the Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria who became governor in 1647.

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