Antwerp 1595 – 1672
A Panoramic Landscape with Shepherds and Peasants with a Church in the Middle
Signed ‘Lucas van Uden F.’ | Lower left
Oil on panel | With the panel makers mark ‘FDB’ of Francois de Bout (active in Antwerp after 1625) on the reverse
H. 70 cm. W. 176 cm.
PROVENANCE
Belgian collection
CATALOGUE NOTE
The church in the middle this impressive panoramic landscape could possibly be identified at the Saint Anna’s Church in Sint-Anna-Pede, in Itterbeek-Dilbeek, which is also depicted in the renowned painting The Blind Leading the Blind by Pieter Breughel the Elder.
Lucas van Uden was born in Antwerp as the son of Artus van Uden and Joanna Tranoy. His father was Antwerp’s city painter. Lucas had a brother Jacob, who also became a landscape painter. Lucas likely studied with his father as he never was registered with the Guild of Saint Luke as a pupil. He registered only as a master in the Guild in the capacity of a ‘wijnmeester’ (a master’s son) in 1626/27 when he was already 32 years old. In 1627 he married Anna van Woelput with whom he had eight children. He was principally a landscape painter. His technique with its attention to detail, particularly in his smaller works, and his search for decorative elements in the larger paintings, place him in the same tradition as Jan Brueghel the Elder and Joos de Momper. General characteristic of his work are a tonally green recessive view, punctuated by slender trees and populated by incidental pastoral and peasant figures. While his landscape paintings are rather schematic, his drawings which were reportedly made directly from nature, are more spontaneous and realistic and display his true talent. Lucas van Uden is known to have collaborated with David Teniers the Younger and Jan Brueghel the Younger, who painted the staffage in his landscapes