Nicolaas van der Horst

[1] He was courtier at the court of the governors of the Habsburg Netherlands in Brussels and given the title of Archer de la Garde.

Here he worked for the governor generals of the Habsburg Netherlands Archduke Albrecht of Austria and Isabella Clara Eugenia for whom he made many drawings.

[2] While van der Horst was praised during his lifetime as a good painter in the grand style of Rubens only one signed painting by his hand is known.

[4] He made a series of the five senses, which was engraved by Guillaume Collaert and published in Antwerp.The print depicting Smell shows a large figure lying on a sumptuous couch with flowers scattered about.

[5] Van der Horst's only surviving painting is a work preserved in the Brussels City Museum.

He designed two tapestries at the occasion of the wedding of Duke Leonhard II of Thurn und Taxis and Duchess Alexandrine of 1646.

The Duchess hol the reins in her left hand and the whip in her right, conform to the riding style of the courts as taught in Le Maneige Royal by de Pluvinel.