Whatever appears coarse in the art of Rubens is accentuated to the
point of grossness in the paintings by his fellow-student under Van
Noort, Jacob Jordaens (1593-1678). He is the painter of _Le Roi boit_
(No. 2014) or _The Twelfth Night Feast_, which is by no means the best
of his many versions of his favourite subject. He was a realist who, as
may be seen from this picture and from the _Concert after a Meal_ (No.
2015), found his most congenial subjects in the carousals of Flemish
merrymakers, which he depicted with more than a touch of coarse humour.
That his temperament and limitations debarred him from achieving
success in the higher flights of art is clearly shown by his large but
by no means noble canvas _Christ driving the Moneylenders from the
Temple_ (No. 2011). On the other hand, his firm grasp of character
stood him in good stead in portraiture. The so-called _Portrait of
Admiral de Ruyter_ (No. 2016), which was bought in 1824 for £800, is a
good example.
We can only briefly refer to a number of seventeenth-century Antwerp
painters, who were either pupils of Rubens or close followers of his
tradition. Gonzales Coques (1614-1684), the painter of the admirably
lighted _Family Party_ (No. 1952), was essentially a portrait painter
who became known as “the little Van Dyck,” although his manner had more
in common with that of the Dutch “small masters” than with the tempered
elegance of Charles I.’s Court-painter.