Justus Sustermans

Justus Sustermans
Justus Sustermans, by Anthony van Dyck
Born	(1597-09-28)28 September 1597 Antwerp
Died	23 April 1681(1681-04-23) (aged 83) Florence
Known for	Painting

Justus Sustermans (28 September 1597 – 23 April 1681) also known as Giusto Sustermans, was a Flemish painter working in the Baroque style. He was born in Antwerp and died in Florence.

Sustermans is chiefly notable for his portraits of members of the Medici family as he was their court painter. His work can be found in both the Palatina Gallery and the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, and in many other galleries around the globe. During his lifetime he was fêted as the finest portrait painter in Italy.

He first studied in Antwerp under Willem de Vos (a nephew of the painter Maerten de Vos), becoming his assistant in 1609. He then spent three and a half years in Paris, where he studied and collaborated with Frans Pourbus the younger. He was eventually invited to Florence under the patronage of the Medici family where he studied Italian portraitists such as Il Guercino, the Spanish Diego Velázquez and France’s Pierre Mignard. While in Italy he also became influenced by the Venetian artists.

In 1620, Sustermans went to Florence to serve as the court painter to Cosimo II de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany. He first became associated with the Medici family the year Grand Duke Cosimo II died. He spent the remainder of his career in the service of the Medici, painting in various Italian cities as well as in Innsbruck and Vienna. Sustermans' portraits document three generations of the Medici family.

It is believed that the first work he completed for the Medici was the 1622 portrait of Cosimo's widow, Maria Maddalena, which is now in the collection of the Royal Museum of Fine Arts of Belgium. As a result, Maria Maddalena became Sustermans' first patron. The following year, Sustermans completed Maria Maddalena of Austria, Wife of the Grand Duke Cosimo II de' Medici and Sister of the Emperor Ferdinand, with her son, the Future Ferdinand II, a double portrait of Maria Maddalena and her son, Ferdinand, the future Ferdinando II de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany. Completed around 1623, after the death of Ferdinand's father Cosimo II, the painting shows Maria Maddalena in the center, with her right hand next to Cosimo II's crown and her left hand resting on her young son's shoulder. By showing the Grand Duke's crown, Sustermans symbolically included Cosimo II in the portrait of his wife and son, and by standing in between the two, Maria Maddalena is the link between Ferdinand and the rule of Tuscany.