Gijsbrecht Leytens also known as The Master of the Winter Landscapes, was a Flemish Baroque painter who specialized in winter landscape

Landscape

Landscape comprises the visible features of an area of land, including the physical elements of landforms such as mountains, hills, water bodies such as rivers, lakes, ponds and the sea, living elements of land cover including indigenous vegetation, human elements including different forms of...

s influenced by Jan Brueghel the Elder

Jan Brueghel the Elder

Jan Brueghel the Elder was a Flemish painter, son of Pieter Bruegel the Elder and father of Jan Brueghel the Younger. Nicknamed "Velvet" Brueghel, "Flower" Brueghel, and "Paradise" Brueghel, of which the latter two were derived from his floral still lifes which were his favored subjects, while the...

 and Gillis van Coninxloo

Gillis van Coninxloo

Gillis van Coninxloo was a Dutch painter of forest landscapes, the most famous member of a large family of artists. He travelled through France, and lived in Germany for several years to avoid religious persecution....

. He became a master in Antwerp's guild of St. Luke in 1611, but little else is known of his career. Like his contemporaries in Antwerp, Abraham Govaerts

Abraham Govaerts

Abraham Govaerts was a Flemish Baroque painter who specialized in small cabinet-sized forest landscapes in the manner of Jan Brueghel the Elder and Gillis van Coninxloo. He became a master in Antwerp's guild of St. Luke in 1607–1608, and subsequently trained several other painters in including...

 and Alexander Keirincx

Alexander Keirincx

Alexander Keirincx was a Flemish Baroque painter who spent his later career in the Dutch Republic. He became a master in Antwerp's guild of St. Luke in 1619, and like his teacher Abraham Govaerts he initially specialized in small cabinet-sized forest landscapes in the manner of Jan Brueghel the...

, Leytens painted wooded landscapes populated with small figures, bracketed by strong repoussoir

Repoussoir

For metalworking, see Repoussé and chasing.In two-dimensional works of art, such as painting, printmaking, photography or bas-relief, repoussoir is an object along the right or left foreground that directs the viewer's eye into the composition by bracketing the edge...

trees. His paintings, however, were generally winter scenes, a recognized specialty known as a Winterken ("little winter").

Sources

• Hans Vlieghe (1998). Flemish Art and Architecture, 1585-1700. Pelican History of Art. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-07038-1