Martin De Vos Biography
Marten de Vos was born in Antwerp in 1532 and died in the same city in 1604. He was the son of the famous painter Peter de Vos (1490-1567). Marten de Vos actively worked in various periods, especially between 1547 and 1603, mainly in the Netherlands and Italy. His artistic style followed the Antwerp School. He studied under the guidance of Frans Floris, a well-known Flemish painter, who in turn had taken inspiration from the Italian current, and later studied with Tintoretto.
During his stay in Italy in 1552, Marten de Vos studied in Rome, Florence and Venice, together with Tintoretto. During this trip, he created many works, including the "Concezione", painted in 1555 and currently exhibited in the first chapel of the Church of San Francesco a Ripa in Rome. After the death of Frans Floris in 1570, Marten de Vos became the most important artist in Antwerp. He created many altarpieces, which constituted the majority of his artistic output until 1579. These works were typically mannerist, with refined and elegant compositions.
During the religious wars caused by the Counter-Reformation and the iconoclastic wave in the first half of the 1580s, with the Calvinists in power in Antwerp, the demand for religious paintings was suspended. During this period of economic recession and decline in the art market, Marten de Vos distinguished himself as an excellent draftsman, working on preparing drawings for publishing houses.
Marten de Vos's workshop was the school for many Flemish painters, who continued his work even after his death, including Hendrik van Balen I, Hendrik de Clerck, Wenceslas Cobergher, Pedro Perret and Lodewijk Toeput.
