Pieter van Avont

Pieter van Avont or Peter van Avont, (1600–1652) was a Flemish painter, draughtsman and printmaker known for his religious scenes and cabinet paintings often including nude children and putti. Van Avont was a frequent collaborator with many leading painters in Antwerp.

Pieter van Avont was baptized on 14 January 1600 in Mechelen His father was the sculptor Hans van Avont.

It is not known with which master he studied but it is believed he received his first training from his father. He was accepted as a master of the guild of Mechelen in 1620. He moved to Antwerp two years later. Around 1622/3, he was accepted as master of the Guild of Saint Luke in Antwerp and he became a citizen of that city in 1631.

On 2 August 1622 he married Catherine van Hertsen in Antwerp cathedral, although they lived in the parish of St. James Church.

Pieter van Avont likely received commissions from Archduke Leopold William, Governor of the Southern Netherlands, as the Archduke is known to have owned a landscape with the Virgin and Child with Angels by van Avont. Even so Pieter van Avont was not able to live of his art and operated a side business as a dealer in paintings and prints. He was appointed captain of the local schutterij (militia) in 1633 but he resigned from the position in 1639 giving as a reason the need for him to paint in order to sustain his family. His first wife died on 3 September 1643. On 7 February 1644 van Avont married again. His second wife was Catharina 't Kint and they had five children.

From the baptisms of his children and of his friends' children it is possible to understand the circle of artistic friends of van Avont. The godfathers and godmothers to his children included the painters Melchior Teniers and Frans Wouters. Catharina 't Kint was the godmother of Marie-Anne Hollar, the daughter of the printmaker Wenceslas Hollar en Margaretha Straci. Wenceslas Hollar is known to have made a portrait of his friend van Avont.

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