| Archduke Leopold Wilhelm in his Gallery in Brussels (IV) | |
|---|---|
&sq=&lang=&file=File:David_Teniers_(II)_-_The_Gallery_of_Archduke_Leopold_in_Brussels.jpg) | |
| Artist | David Teniers the Younger  |
| Year | 1650s |
| Dimensions | 99.7 cm (39.3 in) × 128.4 cm (50.6 in) |
| Location | Schleißheim State Gallery |
| Accession No. | 1841 |
| Identifiers | RKDimages ID: 57564 Bildindex der Kunst und Architektur ID (deprecated): 00060263 |
Gallery of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm in Brussels is a painting of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm's Italian art collection by the Flemish Baroque painter David Teniers the Younger, now held in the Schleissheim Palace. It dates to the 1650s.[1]
The painting shows the Archduke as a collector pointing with his cane towards a few paintings propped against each other on the floor. Behind him is the artist wearing a gold chain and sword, the attributes of honor for his role as gallery director for the archduke. Above the door is a portrait of another patron of the artist, King Philip IV of Spain, and behind the large paintings on the right is a bust on a pedestal of Queen Christina of Sweden. On the left behind the table is an assistant holding a print. The table foot has been documented as a creation of the sculptor Adriaen de Vries depicting Ganymede. The paintings are arranged in rows on the walls, and is one of the paintings that David Teniers the Younger prepared to document the Archduke's collection before he employed 12 engravers to publish his Theatrum Pictorium, considered the "first illustrated art catalog". He published this book of engravings after the Archduke had moved to Austria and taken his collection with him. It was published in Antwerp in 1659 and again in 1673.[2]
In her catalog raisonné of Teniers' works, Margret Klinge dates this painting after 1654 because in the similar gallery painting dated 1653 his portrait does not show the keys, chain, and sword that he is shown wearing in the portrait by Philips Fruytiers dated 1655. Furthermore, the painting of The Three Philosophers and several other Italian paintings are painted in mirror image, which may indicate that he was working from his miniature copy rather than the original, which would have been a necessity after the Archduke left Brussels with his collection to return to Vienna in 1656.