Huybrecht Beuckeleer
Although the artist only left a small body of work, he played a role in the development of genre and still life painting in Northern Europe.
[5] His father's sister Kathelijne was married to Pieter Aertsen, a Dutch painter active in Antwerp who was best known for his market and kitchen scenes.
Huybrecht 's brother Joachim operated at that time a successful workshop in which he produced kitchen and market scenes.
Not long thereafter he was said to be 'travelling in various foreign countries in order to see the land and learn the language, and to practise his trade as a painter and thus earn his living'.
[4] A picture maker by the name of Daniel Buckler mentioned in a list of foreign artists as having died in London in 1625 is believed to have been his son.
The first Passover feast (Sotheby's New York sale, 26 January 2012, lot 105) is another painting previously attributed to Joachim that was reattributed to Huybrecht.
[7] The subject matter of Huybrecht is similar to that of his brother Joachim and Aertsen and includes kitchen and market scenes as well as some religious compositions and portraits.
[3] Sievers had in 1911 already identified the main differences between the works of Huybrecht (whom he knew as the Monogrammist HB) and his brother Joachim.
The distinctive traits identified by Sievers point to a greater realism and naturalness in Huybrecht's work when compared to that of his brother.
It is precisely the sculptural treatment of his figures and the crisp modelling of the faces, which are regarded as evidence of the influence of the Florentine master.
[7] On the basis of these characteristics Kreidl reattributed two portraits (art market) previously given to Santi di Tito to Huybrecht.
[13] Huybrecht's handling of various textures and patterns also suggests the influence of Anthonis Mor, with whom he is believed to have collaborated in the early 1560s in Antwerp.
The scene is dominated by the large figures who are distributed on all levels of the pictorial space and connected by eye contact and individual gestures.
Huybrechts demonstrates in this picture that he could give a more elegant and idealized treatment of figures than Aertsen's or his brother Joachim.
For instance, the composition The kitchen maid and her helpers shows a cook standing in front of a fireplace, while she holds a big cabbage under her left arm and her right hand points to a chicken on a spit.
In The egg seller another popular theme of Flemish genre art is depicted: that of the unequal love between an older man and a younger woman.
Beuckeleer depicts the subject in the form of a rendezvous between an elegantly dressed young couple sitting at a table.
Like Jan Sanders van Hemessen did in his earlier treatment of this subject, Beuckeleer included in his picture another scene from the biblical story of the prodigal son: in the background on the left the prodigal son is seen eating pig swill after he has squandered his inheritance and fallen on hard times.
[14] A still life referred to as Blackberries, cherries, pears, melons and other fruits, parsnips, bread, cheese and a waffle, roemer, tazza and salt cellar on a draped table (At Christie's on 16 October 2013 in Paris lot 69) has been attributed to Huybrecht Beuckeleer on the basis of the similarities with the still life included in the Prodigal son feasting with harlots of the Royal Museums of Fine Arts in Brussels.
