Jan Pauwel Gillemans the Younger

[5] In the same year a Peter Mathys Gillemans also became a master of the Guild of Saint Luke of Antwerp as the son of a member.

[2] Whether or not he died by drowning in the canals of Amsterdam after drinking too much as stated by the early biographer Jacob Campo Weyerman in The Lives of Dutch painters and paintresses (third volume, 1729 – 1739) is unclear.

[8] His early works are close to that of his father and typically depict still lifes of various objects placed on a tabletop or ledge against a neutral background.

Generally speaking, the works of Jan Pauwel the Younger were more decorative in character than those of his father, who had a more limited colour palette.

[9] Under the influence of the French Classical movement the dramatic realism of the early Baroque was replaced by an idealised, decorative vision of nature and reality.

[10] Jan Pauwel regularly placed his large fruit still lifes in a landscape or architectural setting with columns and fountains.

[11] It is not clear whether like his father, Gillemans the Younger also created 'garland paintings', the type of still life invented in early 17th century Antwerp by Jan Brueghel the Elder.

Paintings in this genre typically show a flower or, less frequently, fruit garland around a devotional image or portrait.

[12] A pair of two garland paintings on copper have been attributed to Gillemans the Younger: the Stone niche decorated with fruit and flowers with insects surrounding the Virgin and Child and the Stone niche decorated with fruit and flowers with insects surrounding the Holy Family (At Mercier & Cie, Lille (France) on 26 June 2016, lot 210).