Caspar de Crayer

Gaspar de Crayer. Engraving after Anthony van Dyck

Gaspar de Crayer (18 November 1582 - 27 January 1669), sometimes called Gaspard or Caspar de Crayer was a Flemish painter.

Crayer was born in Antwerp. He learned the art of painting from Michael Coxcie. He matriculated in the Guild of St Luke at Brussels in 1607, resided in the capital of Brabant till after 1660, and finally settled at Ghent, where he died. Amongst the numerous pictures which he painted in Ghent, the Martyrdom of St Blaise in the town museum bears the inscription A 1668 aet.

Crayer was one of the most productive yet one of the most conscientious artists of the later Flemish school, second to Rubens in vigour and below Van Dyck in refinement, but nearly equalling both in most of the essentials of painting. He was well known and always well treated by Archduke Albert of Austria and Archduchess Isabella, governors of the Netherlands. The cardinal-Infante Ferdinand made him a court painter. His pictures abound in the churches and museums of Brussels and Ghent; and there is scarcely a country chapel in Flanders or Brabant that cannot offer one or more of his canvases. But he was equally respected beyond his native country; and some important pictures of his composition are to be found as far south as Aix en Provence and as far east as Amberg in the Upper Palatinate.

Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand, by Gaspar de Crayer

His skill as a decorative artist is shown in the panels executed for a triumphal arch at the ceremonial entry of Cardinal Ferdinand into the Flemish capital, some of which are publicly exhibited in the museum of Ghent. His best works are the Miraculous Draught of Fishes in the gallery of Brussels, the Judgment of Solomon in the gallery of Ghent, and Madonnas with Saints in the Louvre, the Alte Pinakothek, Munich, and the Belvedere at Vienna. His portrait by Van Dyck (illustration above) was engraved by Paulus Pontius.

References

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 
• Catholic Encyclopedia article He was the most powerful man in the town

External links

• Web Gallery of Art: Biography of Caspar de Crayer
• Web Gallery of Art: Paintings by Caspar de Crayer

Persondata
Name	Crayer, Gaspar de
Alternative names	Gaspard; de Crayer, Caspar
Short description	painter
Date of birth	18 November 1582
Place of birth	Antwerp
Date of death	27 January 1669
Place of death	Ghent