Gillis van valckenborch biography of albert

Gillis van Valckenborch or Egidius van Valckenborch^[1] (Antwerp 1570 – Frankfurt am Main, end March or 1 April 1622)^[2] was a Flemish painter and draughtsman who spent most of his career in Germany.

He was a member of the van Valckenborch dynasty of painters who painted mainly landscapes. Unlike his family members, he is mainly known for his large-scale compositions with many swirling figures depicting scenes from ancient history or mythology.^[3] While his landscape drawings evidence his interest in landscape art no landscape paintings have been attributed to him.^[4]

Life

Gillis van Valckenborch was born into a well-known family of artists.^[2] Fourteen known painters are recorded in the family history.

Of these, his father Marten van Valckenborch (1535–1612), his brother Frederik van Valckenborch and his uncle Lucas van Valckenborch the elder achieved notable fame as painters.^[5] T