(Brussels 1613–1686) Wooded hilly landscape with a resting traveller and an abbey in the background, signed at lower right Jacques d’Arthois, oil on canvas, 58 x 85.5 cm, framed

Besides Lodewijk de Vadder, Daniel van Heil, and Jacques Fouquier, Jacques d’Arthois, who exclusively specialized in the landscape genre, numbered among the most important artists of the Brussels School, being the most significant and prominent representative among their group. Whereas initially he was still considerably influenced by the preceding generation of artists and the fragmented manner of such painters as Denis van Alsloot, he eventually arrived at a more generous and liberal style under the influence of Rubens’ landscapes that also becomes obvious in the present composition. His oeuvre thus constitutes an exceptional case for an exponent of the Brussels School within Flemish landscape painting: through the free rhythm of the brush and the renouncement of an accurate, graphic description of nature, he reached a powerful painterly expression in which colour and light were given preference over nature – a strength that can otherwise only be observed in the works of Joos de Momper. Literature: comp. Klaus Ertz, “Die Brüsseler Landschaftsmaler”, in: Die Flämische Landschaft, Essen–Vienna 2003–4, Lingen 2003, p. 363.