Jacob van Oost the Elder Head of a Girl ca. 1650 oil on canvas private collection |
Jacob van Oost the Elder The Calling of Matthew / Family Portrait 1641 oil on canvas Groeningemuseum, Bruges |
Jacob van Oost the Elder The Calling of Matthew / Family Portrait (detail) 1641 oil on canvas Groeningemuseum, Bruges |
Jacob van Oost the Elder Holy Family with St Elizabeth and young St John the Baptist 1643 oil on panel Ulster Museum, Belfast |
Jacob van Oost the Elder Portrait of a Boy, aged 11 1650 oil on canvas National Gallery, London |
Jacob van Oost the Elder Diana the Huntress before 1671 oil on canvas Grosvenor Museum, Chester |
Jacob van Oost the Elder Adoration of the Shepherds, with St Anthony ca. 1645 oil on canvas Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna |
attributed to Jacob van Oost the Elder Boy with Wild Goose and Tray of Mushrooms before 1671 oil on canvas Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest |
attributed to Jacob van Oost the Elder St John the Evangelist ca. 1640 oil on canvas private collection |
Jacob van Oost the Elder Female Martyr before 1671 oil on canvas Groeningemuseum, Bruges |
Jacob van Oost the Younger Infant Christ presented with the Cross by God the Father 1697 oil on canvas Église Saint André de Lille |
Jacob van Oost the Younger St Charles Borromeo praying for Plague Victims 1668 oil on canvas Église Saint Maurice de Lille |
Jacob van Oost the Younger Christ and the Woman of Samaria 1668 oil on canvas private collection |
Jacob van Oost the Younger St Macarius of Ghent giving Holy Communion to Plague Victims 1673 oil on canvas Musée du Louvre |
Jacob van Oost the Younger Portrait of a Man ca. 1680-90 oil on canvas Museum of Fine Arts, Boston |
Jacob van Oost the Elder (1603-1671) was the father of Jacob van Oost the Younger (1637-1713). Both were prominent artists in Bruges, where Jacob the Elder served as official city painter from 1651 until his death. He spent several years in Italy during the 1620s, absorbing the influence of Caravaggio above all. In addition to religious and allegorical scenes, van Oost the Elder became the dominant portraitist of the Bruges bourgeoisie. His Calling of Matthew (near the top of this post) actually combines his two favorites genres, in a Caravaggesque Biblical narrative that doubles as a family portrait. Jacob the Younger spent his middle years in the French town of Lille, after marrying there. Many of his paintings are consequently to be found in France, though he did return to Bruges toward the end of his life.
Jacob van Oost the Elder The Crowning with Thorns 1661 oil on canvas Groeningemuseum, Bruges |
Jacob the Elder's Crowning with Thorns of 1661 demonstrates that even forty years after his direct experience of Caravaggio's work in Rome, the Flemish artist was still vividly haunted by it.