Adriaen Brouwer

Little is known about Adriaen Brouwer’s life

Adriaen Brouwer was probably born in 1605 in the Belgian city of Oudenaarde. Because little else is known about his childhood and youth, this void often causes disagreements, above all about his nationality: was he a Belgian or a Dutch painter? What is known is that he was in Haarlem in 1626; one assumes that he had already emigrated to the Netherlands in 1621. In his three-volume catalogue of Dutch painters, Arnold Houbraken reports that he is said to have been apprenticed in Haarlem, together with his namesake Adriaen van Ostade, to the famous portrait artist Frans Hals. Research has however disputed this, if not for the 1631 testified admission of Adriaen Brouwer to the Antwerp Lukasgilde. In Antwerp he attracted the attention of Peter Paul Rubens, who appreciated Brouwer’s work and acquired many of his pictures. In 1633 Brouwer came into conflict with the authorities, probably for political reasons, and spent some time in prison.

Expressive, lively peasant scenes as the exclusive motif

Not least under the influence of his supporter Rubens, Adriaen Brouwer developed his personal style with great vibrancy and fluid transparency. His motifs were all from the everyday life of peasant house interiors and taverns. His depictions of dances, card games and fights are captivating for their great liveliness and intensity. Brouwer’s art runs alongside that of Pieter Bruegel the Elder, whose peasant scenes could be regarded as role models, but which were rarely represented in Dutch painting of the time. Despite his undisputed artistic mastery, Brouwer’s choice of motifs found little approval amongst his contemporaries – as suggested by the reports of financial shortages which forced the painter to sell his modest effects in 1632. These economic difficulties were probably fostered by the excessive lifestyle he is said to have led, and a large part of the documented reports about Brouwer indeed revolve around the artist’s unpaid debts.

Great masterpieces on a small scale

Adriaen Brouwer had a considerable artistic influence – not only on his pupil Joos van Craesbeeck, but also on famous contemporaries such as David Teniers the Younger, the brothers Cornelis and Herman Saftleven, and David Rijckaert. The artist’s actual work is difficult for the research to categorise as Brouwer mostly left his small-format oil paintings unsigned and undated. The many copies made by pupils and imitators add to the confusion. Despite these difficulties, it is worth keeping an eye out for a real Brouwer as the differentiated colouring, the subdued play of light and above all the fine psychological drawing of the acting figures make the representations by the Flemish artist a unique art which not only fascinated Rubens and Rembrandt but also drew in the Impressionists later.

Adriaen Brouwer spent his last years in Antwerp in the house of the copper engraver Paulus Pontius, before falling victim to the rampant plague sometime before 1 February 1638.