Jan Siberechts (1627-1703)

Siberechts was in the forefront of landscape painters in England as opposed to the topographical painters and engravers; a situation which was to remain unchanged until the 18th century. Siberechts carved out his own niche in a somewhat overcrowded market in his home city of Antwerp which included amongst others the Flemish painters Pieter Breughel who was to produce brightly coloured, kaleidoscopic peasant scenes depicting a lively, riotous villagers enjoying themselves at various fairs and celebratory occasions; Adriaen Brouwer whose scenes were darker in every sense, often rustic interiors of rather squalid homes or disreputable inns and taverns; and Teniers the Younger who created an atmosphere enlivened by bright colour accents, usually by the device of displaying kettles, pans and other utensils in the foreground; populated now by calmer and more amiable peasants. It was into this world that Jan Siberechts was to introduce his own idiosyncratic style, albeit in homage to his world-renowned neighbour Peter Paul Rubens, with his peasants and country maids at work and leisure in the countryside, peasant girls balancing their copper milkcans, chatting and going about their business; individuals absorbed in their daily tasks, purposeful yet contented and dignified. Siberechts shows us the farmhouse, the contented farm animals and the diligent farmers' wives preparing their vegetables for market, feeding the hens and geese and caring for their children; depictions of domestic harmony. Siberechts's English oeuvre heralded a complete change of subject. He began painting the country houses of the wealthy, influential people of the day, pioneering an innovative style of estate portraiture with such skill and attention to detail that we are able to `read' his paintings. They serve to give us a detailed and fascinating insight into the way-of-life, social attitudes, fashions and influences of their time. Up to this date painting was topographical in the sense that it might be an accurate painting of the building and the surrounding lands but it was without any life or atmosphere. Perhaps not the first to approach landscape or topographical painting in England but the first to combine the two. The first to depict a building surrounded by its carefully surveyed estate lands showing the ennobled owner and his staff all in a lyrical but ordered aspirational landscape. Siberechts was in the forefront of English landscape painters as opposed to the topographical painters and engravers; a situation which was to remain unchanged until the 18th century.