Frederik van Valckenborch

Frederik van Valckenborch (1566, in Antwerp – 1623, in Nuremberg) was a Flemish painter and draughtsman known for his imaginary landscapes with figures executed in a late Mannerist style.

[1] Originally from Leuven, the van Valckenborchs, like many other families in the region who had become Calvinists, moved from the Spanish-occupied Spanish Netherlands to the more liberal environment of Frankfurt am Main, which was a German imperial outpost.

[5] Frederik received in 1612 a commission from the Nuremberg authorities to design an arch for the Triumphal Entry of Archduke Matthias.

He worked in a late Mannerist idiom characterised by strong contrasts between light and dark and the use of animated forms that lend a dynamic, if somewhat haunting and even surrealist, quality to the whole.

[5] In the composition Landscape with shipwreck (Museum Boymans van Beuningen) the influence of the Venetians such as Tintoretto is visible in the dramatic use of light contrasts.

[6] In his drawings van Valckenborck shows an interest in the realistic rendering of nature, something which is generally absent from his paintings.

In his quest for topographical accuracy he created drawings with a clear and simple layout in contrast with his complex paintings.