Portrait of Bishop Antonius Triest and His Brother Eugene, a Capuchin (David Teniers II)
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Portrait of Bishop Antonius Triest and His Brother Eugene, a Capuchin is an oil-on-canvas work painted in 1652 by the Flemish master David Teniers the Younger. The painting is now housed in the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg.
The composition presents a striking devotional scene. On the right stands Antonius Triest, who became Bishop of Bruges in 1617 and Bishop of Ghent in 1622. A prominent patron and collector of Flemish art, he acquired works by Teniers and many other leading painters of his time. Teniers depicts Triest in a posture of prayer, holding a rosary and embodying both his spiritual authority and personal piety. To the left stands his brother Eugene, a Capuchin friar, who raises a shield displaying the Five Wounds of Christ, a motif symbolizing Christ’s Passion and sacrifice. Behind them, on a shelf, stand small devotional sculptures, including figures of Penitent St. Jerome and the Flagellation of Christ, reinforcing the painting’s meditative and penitential mood.
David Teniers the Younger
David Teniers II (bapt. 15 December 1610 – 25 April 1690) was one of the most versatile and prolific painters of the Flemish Baroque. Active as a painter, printmaker, draughtsman, and curator, he excelled in a wide array of genres, history paintings, landscapes, portraits, still lifes, and especially genre scenes, for which he is now best remembered. Teniers played a key role in developing rustic peasant scenes, tavern interiors, and depictions of collectors’ cabinets, as well as scenes featuring alchemists and physicians.
He served as court painter and curator to Archduke Leopold Wilhelm, Governor-General of the Habsburg Netherlands, and produced the first printed catalogue of the Archduke’s art collection. Teniers also founded the Antwerp Academy, aiming to revive Flemish artistic excellence after the deaths of Peter Paul Rubens and Anthony van Dyck. His work influenced later Northern painters and contributed to the development of French Rococo, inspiring artists such as Antoine Watteau.
Bishop Antonius Triest
Appointed Bishop of Ghent on 10 July 1620, Antonius Triest succeeded Jacobus Boonen and formally took office in April 1622. Known for his compassion and administrative vision, Triest supported numerous charitable institutions, including a mount of piety offering interest-free loans to the poor, an orphanage for girls, and reorganized Sunday schools. He also encouraged the formation of religious confraternities. A cultivated patron of the arts, Triest formed friendships with Rubens, Van Dyck, and Teniers, and commissioned works from major Flemish sculptors and painters. In 1651, his commissioned tomb by sculptor François Duquesnoy was completed, reflecting his status and refined artistic taste.
This painting thus stands as both a devotional image and a testament to Triest’s cultural and spiritual influence in 17th-century Flanders, as interpreted by one of the era’s most accomplished painters.
