Peter Ykens

[2][3] He was born in Antwerp as the son of Johannes Ykens, a sculptor and painter, and his second wife Barbara Brekevelt.

[6] According to the French biographer Jean-Baptiste Descamps Ykens intended, like so many of his compatriots, to travel to Rome, but then got married and abandoned the idea.

[4][8] His career did not take off immediately and in the first years he had to work at a daily rate for Antoon van Leyen, an Antwerp alderman.

He is known to have collaborated with Gaspar Peeter Verbruggen the Elder, Gaspar Peeter Verbruggen the Younger, Jan Pauwel Gillemans the Younger, Jan Baptist de Crépu and Jacob Melchior van Herck, all specialists in flower still lives, and Ferdinand van Kessel, a landscape artist.

[12] He also produced a series of six cartons after prints by Charles Lebrun depicting the Story of Alexander and Darius.