Gaspar de Crayer (1584-1669), a pupil of Raphael van Coxie, modelled
his art entirely on Rubens, and was equally successful as a portrait
painter and in his religious compositions. Both phases of his art
figure in the Louvre collection, which owns the _St. Augustin in
Ecstasy_ (No. 1953) and the life-size _Equestrian Portrait of the
Infante Ferdinand, Governor of the Netherlands_ (No. 1954). It was a
portrait of the same sitter that led to Crayer’s appointment to the
position of Painter to the Infante’s Court, accompanied by considerable
emoluments.
Abraham van Diepenbeeck (1596-1675), Pieter van Mol (1599-1650), and
Paul de Vos (1593-1676) need not here detain us. They are all capable
followers of their master’s style, without any personal distinction.
David Ryckaert (1612-1661), the third of four artists of the same
family that bore this name, is outside the immediate circle of Rubens.
His _Interior of a Studio_ (No. 2137), which bears the signature “D.
RYC. f. 1638,” is of peculiar interest as a document illustrating the
_milieu_ in which a Flemish artist of that period lived and worked.
Gerard Seghers (1591-1651), the painter of _St. Francis in Ecstasy_
(No. 2140), although a pupil of Van Balen and Abraham Janssens, and
indirectly, through Manfredi, of Caravaggio, must be counted among
those who were influenced by the dominating personality of Rubens. An
important pupil of Snyders was Jan Fyt (1611-1661), who excelled as
an animal painter and colourist. He was at his best when he treated
animals more in the manner of still life, but remained vastly inferior
to his master when he tried to emulate his hunting scenes. Not all the
five pictures catalogued under his name can be accepted as his own
work. His great skill in rendering the varied textures of furs and
feathers may be judged from _Game in a Larder_ (No. 1993), which is
unquestionably authentic although it does not bear the signature which
testifies to his authorship of _A Dog devouring Game_ (No. 1994).