Jan Cossiers

Before settling in Antwerp in 1627, Flemish artist Jan Cossiers served two apprenticeships and traveled throughout Italy and France. A year later he became a master in the Guild of Saint Luke. His earliest known works were mostly life-sized scenes of the daily life of colorful subjects such as smokers, gypsies, and fortune-tellers. A colleague recommended Cossiers to the Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens, but their collaboration did not happen until nearly a decade later. During the second half of the 1630s, Cossiers made numerous paintings from Rubens's designs. Following Rubens's death in 1640, Cossiers painted biblical and other religious narratives for churches in the southern Netherlands. His late work is noted for its subtle use of color and for its sympathetic emotional portrayals of his subjects.