Pieter Meulener

Pieter Meulener or Peter Meulenaer (Antwerp, baptised 18 February 1602 – Antwerp, 27 November 1654), Antwerp), was one of the leading Flemish painters of battle scenes in the mid-17th century. He also painted landscapes with genre scenes.

Pieter Meulener was born in Antwerp as the son of genre painter Jan de Meuleneer and Elizabeth Floris. He was baptised on 18 February 1602 in Antwerp Cathedral. His grandfather was the Flemish Renaissance painter Cornelis Molenaer who was known for his landscapes. It is assumed that he was trained by his father Jan who had joined the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke in 1598. Pieter joined the Guild in 1631 as a "wijnmeester" (literally: winemaster), which means he was the son or brother of a current member. He likely got married the same year to Maria Hendrickx.

SInce no early dated works have been discovered, it is likely he initially assisted his father in his workshop. He started out on his own account in 1642.

He was successful as he was able to rent a luxurious residence. When he died in 1654 he was recorded as having one daughter of 20 years old and a son of 15 years old.

He was able to establish a reputation as a leading battle painter of battles but was also known for his landscapes. His works are usually dated and signed with "P.MEVLENER". He occasionally used the monogram "PM" (in ligature; the P centrally on top of the M). The works signed with this monogram have long been considered as by Pieter de Molijn.

His works can be found in leading museums including the Prado Museum, the Hermitage Museum, the Rijksmuseum and the Louvre.

His battle scenes depict cavalry skirmishes, attacks on military convoys and on travellers, depicting those subjects from the Flemish side in the Eighty Years' War and the Thirty Years' War. His preferred theme was cavalry engagements and his usual way of representing these was to place a dense cavalry skirmish in a certain area of the composition. Whereas some Flemish war artists such as Pieter Snayers painted battle scenes which depicted real battles in a topographical and analytical manner, Meulener only aimed to represent the battles in a general form. His battle scenes show similarities with those of Sebastiaen Vrancx, the first Flemish artist to attempt this subject matter. Some historians believe Meulener may have studied under Vrancx.

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