Melchior de la Mars

Melchior de la Mars (c. 1585 – 1650) was a Flemish Baroque painter active in Ghent.

A year later he signed the Maria Magdalen in ecstasy (Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium).

It is believed that the artist was also an art dealer and was thus able to export his own works, which explains their presence in French collections.

[1] The style of de la Mars' works, which combines chiaroscuro together with the Mannerist profiles of the figures, qualify the artist as an early representative of the Ghent Caravaggisti, who preceded the return of Jan Janssens from Rome in 1621.

He was thus part of the earliest generation of Flemish Caravaggisti, which included, amongst others, Gerard Seghers and Theodoor van Loon.