Robert van den Hoecke

[2] After training and starting his career in Antwerp, the artist moved to Brussels where he entered into the service of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria, the governor of the Habsburg Netherlands.

[5] By 1649 van den Hoecke had left Antwerp for Brussels where he became a court painter of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria, the governor of the Habsburg Netherlands.

[4] His fellow Antwerp painter Gonzales Coques painted van den Hoecke's portrait in the form of an allegory of sight, one work in a series on the five senses.

[8] The portrait shows van den Hoecke in his official capacity as "Côntroleur des fortifications" wearing a belt and a sword.

[3] The artist is holding a painter's palette in hand and in his other a just finished picture of a military camp, which corresponds to the plan of Ostend lying on the table in front of him.

The choice of the painter-engraver Robert van den Hoecke as an impersonation of the sense of sight was peculiarly apt, since his delicacy of handling was particularly admired by his contemporaries.

[12] A comprehensive florilegium (at Sotheby's London on 30 April 2015, lot 30), containing detailed studies of European flora such as narcissi, irises and capsicums, was attributed by a previous owner to Robert van den Hoecke.

It is therefore possible that the artist responsible for the work was not Robert but his father Gaspar or his brother Jan.[18] The largest collection of his paintings is located in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.