Jacob de Backer

Jacob de Backer (c. 1555 – c. 1585) was a Flemish Mannerist painter and draughtsman active in Antwerp between about 1571 and 1585. Even though he died young at the age of 30, the artist was very prolific and an extensive body of work has been attributed to him. Art historians are not agreed on how many of these works are autograph or the product of a workshop. The works attributed to the artist or his workshop are executed in a late-Mannerist style clearly influenced by Italian models.

Very little is known about this artist. The dates of his death and birth are unknown. Scholars do not agree on his life span nor the definitive scope of his oeuvre. It is believed that he was born in Antwerp and died there c. 1591-1600.

The early Flemish biographer Karel van Mander reported in his Schilder-boeck (1604) that de Backer was abandoned as a young boy by his father, also a painter, who had to flee Antwerp because of an impending court trial. He then worked for a number of years in the studio of a painter and picture dealer of Italian origin but Protestant confession known as Antonio van Palermo (1503/13-before 1589). He later entered the workshop of Hendrick van Steenwijck the Elder (1550-1603). Van Mander claimed that Palermo worked him so hard that the young de Backer died in the arms of his master's daughter at the age of thirty. As van Mander indicated that that had happened a long time ago it must have been before van Steenwijck left Antwerp in 1586. So this places the time of death of de Backer prior to 1586.

Little is known about the artist's training. There is no record of him ever becoming a master in the Antwerp Guild of St. Luke. While his work shows a strong influence of the Mannerism of Rome and Florence, in particular the high Mannerist style of Giorgio Vasari, there is no evidence that de Backer made a study trip to Italy as did many of his contemporary Flemish artists.

Many of his compositions deal with complex allegorical subjects. This has been interpreted as evidence that the artist enjoyed a humanistic education and his patrons were from Antwerp's educated class.

Although the artist lived only for about 30 years, a great number of works have been attributed to him or his workshop. He remains a problematic figure in the history of late 16th-century Netherlandish art. None of his pictures mentioned by Karel van Mander in the Schilder-Boeck have been securely identified and no painting or drawing attributed to him carries a signature that can be authenticated.

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