Theodoor van Thulden was a Dutch Baroque artist from 's-Hertogenbosch in North Brabant

North Brabant

North Brabant , sometimes called Brabant, is a province of the Netherlands, located in the south of the country, bordered by Belgium in the south, the Meuse River in the north, Limburg in the east and Zeeland in the west.- History :...

 who was active in that city and in Antwerp.

Biography

According to Houbraken he made many respected altarpieces but preferred to paint less lofty subjects such as village festivals, and weddings. He was also a good etcher, as could be seen from his etching made in Paris of Ulysses after Francesco Primaticcio

Francesco Primaticcio

Francesco Primaticcio was an Italian Mannerist painter, architect and sculptor who spent most of his career in France.-Biography:...

. According to the RKD he married Maria van Balen, the daughter of the painter Hendrick van Balen

Hendrick van Balen

Hendrik van Balen was a Flemish Baroque painter.-Biography:Van Balen was born and died in Antwerp. He was a pupil of Adam van Noort and studied art while traveling in Italy...

 and the sister of the painters Hendrick II and Jan van Balen

Jan van Balen

Jan van Balen was a Flemish Baroque painter.-Biography:He was the son of Hendrik van Balen and brother-in-law to Theodoor van Thulden. and was instructed by his father. After having made considerable progress in the art, his father sent him to Italy, where he had himself derived such advantage...

.

His style is heavily indebted to Peter Paul Rubens, with whom he frequently worked, and he is important for bringing aspects of Flemish Baroque painting

Flemish Baroque painting

Flemish Baroque painting is the art produced in the Southern Netherlands between about 1585, when the Dutch Republic was split from the Habsburg Spain regions to the south by the recapturing of Antwerp by the Spanish, until about 1700, when Habsburg authority ended with the death of King Charles II...

 into the Dutch Republic

Dutch Republic

The Dutch Republic — officially known as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands , the Republic of the United Netherlands, or the Republic of the Seven United Provinces — was a republic in Europe existing from 1581 to 1795, preceding the Batavian Republic and ultimately...

. Attracted by the opportunities for large history

History painting

History painting is a genre in painting defined by subject matter rather than an artistic style, depicting a moment in a narrative story, rather than a static subject such as a portrait...

 and painting available in the Southern Netherlands

Southern Netherlands

Southern Netherlands were a part of the Low Countries controlled by Spain , Austria and annexed by France...

 that were not available in the cities in the north, he travelled to Antwerp around 1621, where he studied at the studio of Abraham van Blijenberch

Abraham van Blijenberch

Abraham van Blijenberch was a Flemish painter. He was born in the Spanish Netherlands and married in 1615...

. In 1626 he became a master in the Guild of St. Luke. He worked in France, making copies of Mannerist

Mannerism

Mannerism is a period of European art that emerged from the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520. It lasted until about 1580 in Italy, when a more Baroque style began to replace it, but Northern Mannerism continued into the early 17th century throughout much of Europe...

 paintings at Fontainebleau

Fontainebleau

Fontainebleau is a commune in the metropolitan area of Paris, France. It is located south-southeast of the centre of Paris. Fontainebleau is a sub-prefecture of the Seine-et-Marne department, and it is the seat of the arrondissement of Fontainebleau...

 and working in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

 from 1631 and 1633. Van Thulden returned to Antwerp in 1634, where he worked frequently with Rubens. One of the large projects during this period was the production of engraving

Engraving

Engraving is the practice of incising a design on to a hard, usually flat surface, by cutting grooves into it. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or glass are engraved, or may provide an intaglio printing plate, of copper or another metal, for printing...

s after Rubens's decorations for the joyous entry

Joyous Entry

A Joyous Entry was a local name used for the royal entry - the first official peaceable visit of a reigning monarch, prince, duke or governor into a city - mainly in the Duchy of Brabant or the County of Flanders and occasionally in France, Luxembourg or Hungary, often coinciding with...

 of Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand

Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand

Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand was Governor of the Spanish Netherlands, Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church, Infante of Spain, Archduke of Austria, Archbishop of Toledo , and military...

 in 1635 (published in 1642). In 1637 he worked on the Torre de la Parada

Torre de la Parada

The Torre de la Parada is a former hunting lodge that was located in present-day Monte de El Pardo in Fuencarral-El Pardo, near the Royal Palace of El Pardo.-History:...

 in Madrid. He returned to North Brabant in 1640, settling in his home city where he won a commission to make political allegories for the city council. Van Thulden continued to paint altarpiece

Altarpiece

An altarpiece is a picture or relief representing a religious subject and suspended in a frame behind the altar of a church. The altarpiece is often made up of two or more separate panels created using a technique known as panel painting. It is then called a diptych, triptych or polyptych for two,...

s and other commissions for Catholic

Catholic

The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...

 patrons in the Southern Netherlands

Southern Netherlands

Southern Netherlands were a part of the Low Countries controlled by Spain , Austria and annexed by France...

 as well as political allegories–many related to the 1648 Peace of Westphalia

Peace of Westphalia

The Peace of Westphalia was a series of peace treaties signed between May and October of 1648 in Osnabrück and Münster. These treaties ended the Thirty Years' War in the Holy Roman Empire, and the Eighty Years' War between Spain and the Dutch Republic, with Spain formally recognizing the...

–for local patrons. He also participated in the decorations for the Oranjezaal in the Huis ten Bosch

Huis ten Bosch

Huis ten Bosch is one of the three official residences of the Dutch Royal Family, located in The Hague in the Netherlands. It has been home to Queen Beatrix since 1981. The other Royal palace in The Hague, Noordeinde Palace, is used for work-related purposes...

, The Hague

The Hague

The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...

, a commission for Amalia von Solms that brought together Dutch

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 and Flemish artists such as Gerard van Honthorst

Gerard van Honthorst

Gerard van Honthorst , also known as Gerrit van Honthorst and in Italy as Gherardo delle Notti for his nighttime candlelit subjects, was a Dutch Golden Age painter from Utrecht.-Biography:...

 and Jacob Jordaens

Jacob Jordaens

Jacob Jordaens was one of three Flemish Baroque painters, along with Peter Paul Rubens and Anthony van Dyck, to bring prestige to the Antwerp school of painting. Unlike those contemporaries he never traveled abroad to study Italian painting, and his career is marked by an indifference to their...

.

Sources

• Roy, Alain. "Thulden, Theodoor [Théodore] van," Grove Art Online. Oxford University Press
  Oxford University Press
  Oxford University Press is the largest university press in the world. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the Vice-Chancellor known as the Delegates of the Press. They are headed by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as...
  
  , [8 November 2007].
• Vlieghe, Hans (1998). Flemish Art and Architecture, 1585-1700. Pelican history of art. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-07038-1

External links

• Theodoor van Thulden on Artnet
  Artnet
  artnet is an online service provider for the international art market with headquarters in New York, Berlin and Paris. Additionally, artnet has regional offices in China, the UK and Russia.- Business model :...