Gijsbrecht Leytens

[2] Leytens' work was originally attributed to an unidentified painter referred to as 'Meester van de Winterlandschappen' or 'Master of the Winter Landscapes'.

Gijsbrecht Leytens' work is unique in distancing itself from the austere, dreary and unsettling landscapes that rely on human figures to come to life.

Leytens succeeded in recreating winter while avoiding a simple academic rendering showing the trivial details of human activities.

Leytens is regarded as the 'poet of the frost', since he succeeds in expressing the poetic beauty of winter by devices such as depicting the naked sun on a countryside caught in the ice.

Like his contemporaries in Antwerp, Abraham Govaerts and Alexander Keirincx, Leytens painted wooded landscapes populated with small figures, bracketed by strong repoussoir trees.

[7] As was common in Antwerp artist circles in the 17th century Gijsbrecht Leytens regularly collaborated with other painters who were specialists in a particular genre.