El pintor

VALKENBORCH, Lucas van

Flemish painter (b. ca. 1530, Leuven, d. 1597, Frankfurt/Main)

Biography

Valkenborch (or Valckenborch, or Valkenborgh), family of Netherlandish landscape and genre painters, the most important members of which were Lucas (c. 1535-1597) and his younger brother Marten (1535-1612). Lucas joined the Malines Guild in 1560 and in 1565 was in Antwerp, whence he fled to Aix-la-Chapelle to avoid persecution (he was a Protestant). He worked for Archduke Matthias and accompanied him to Linz before settling in Frankfurt in 1593. Marten fled with his brother and returned to Antwerp before going to Frankfurt, Venice and Rome. Both worked in the Bruegel tradition, and both favored the subject of the Tower of Babel. They also painted series of the Seasons, and their winter scenes are especially notable.