page_title: Erasmus Quellinus the Younger
section_title: General
hierarchical_section_title: Erasmus Quellinus the Younger / Work / General
context_page_description: Erasmus Quellinus the Younger and Erasmus Quellinus II was a Flemish painter, engraver, draughtsman and tapestry designer who worked in various genres including history, portrait, battle and animal paintings. He was a pupil of Peter Paul Rubens and was one of the closest collaborators of Rubens in the 1630s. Following Rubens' death in 1640 he became one of the most prolific and successful painters in Flanders.
context_section_description: Erasmus Quellinus II was a very versatile artist who worked in various genres.  He received numerous commissions for altarpieces depicting Counter-Reformation themes for churches and monasteries throughout the Southern Netherlands.  He also received many civic commissions which allowed him to show his learning in the depiction of scenes from ancient history and mythology and allegorical compositions. In addition, he produced portraits, battle scenes and designs for tapestries. Like Rubens, Quellinus was a pictor doctus with a strong grounding in ancient history and philosophy.  He had built an extensive library and art collection.  This learning is reflected in the subject matter of his work.
  Even while he was a frequent collaborator with Rubens' workshop in the 1630s, Quellinus developed a personal style distinctive from that of Rubens.  This style is reminiscent of the Antwerp followers of Caravaggio such as Theodoor Rombouts and Gerard Seghers.  Characteristics of this style are the strong modeling of forms achieved through a sculptural use of light.  Quellinus' oldest known work is the 1634 Adoration of the Shepherds (Alte Pinakothek, Munich), which is in this Caravaggesque mode.
  From the 1640s, his style took on a classicizing aspect and a sculptured look.  Erasmus never travelled to Italy so this stylistic development was likely influenced by the work of his brother Artus, who introduced his own style of classicizing Baroque in Flemish sculpture after returning from Rome in 1640.  Both brothers depicted similar idealizing Antique figures in their work in this period.  His Adoration of the Holy Sacrament (1646) was painted in this style.
  From c. 1650 this classicism in his work became rigid and his compositions from this period made use of a limited number of stereotyped and idealized figure types.  This stylistic development is evident in the interior decorations he made for the new City Hall of Amsterdam, which he executed in collaboration with his brother Artus.  The brothers achieved stylistic agreement in this commission: the Judgement of Solomon, which Artus sculpted for the Council Chamber, is repeated in a painting by Erasmus.  This development towards classicist rigidity may reflect the influence of French art with its preference for classicism.
  Erasmus' work also gained a theatrical aspect as reflected in the 1652 painting Artemisia (Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery, University of Glasgow).  The painting has a theatrical background like a park.  This tendency became more evident in the 1660s when his paintings started to include grandiose scenery with flamboyant architecture.  This is clear in the Let the Children Come to Me of 1664 (Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels). These later compositions possible reflect an influence by the early work of his son Jan-Erasmus Quellinus.
caption: Achilles with the daughters of Lycomedes
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