Carstian Luyckx

Nascido: 1623

Morte: 1657

Biografia:

Carstian Luyckx, also known as the Monogrammist KL previously given to St. André. This composition shows a musical score, which contains a single vocal part of a religious Latin choral composition, the text of which specifically relates to death. The inscription on the musical score probably refers to the 16th-century composer Orlande de Lassus.
Another vanitas still life is the Allegory of Charles I of England and Henrietta of France in a Vanitas Still Life (Birmingham Museum of Art). The subject here refers to the troubled life of Charles I of England and is a reflection on the suddenness of death and the vanity of early power and glory. The bubbles in the composition symbolize the brevity of the life of Charles I who was beheaded at the age of 44. The broken skull conveys the fragility of human beings and the globe symbolizes the transience of power and possessions.
His hunting pieces (game still lifes) were influenced by the Flemish specialists in this genre Frans Snyders and especially Jan Fyt. An example of his hunting pieces is A hunting still life of partridges with four Springer spaniels, a hawk, a game-bag and belt and other hunting gear in a landscape (Sold at Christie's on 20–21 November 2013 in Amsterdam, lot 168). This work is believed to date to the transitional phase between Luyckx’ Antwerp and French periods in the 1650s.
Some fish still lifes by Luyckx have previously been attributed to Abraham van Beijeren or followers of Alexander Adriaenssen.
Luyckx painted compositions with life animals a good example of which is the Fowl Attacked by a Fox (The Kremer Collection).
Carstian Luyckx painted flower paintings as well as garland paintings, a special type of still life developed in Antwerp at the beginning of the 17th century by Jan Brueghel the Elder in collaboration with the Italian cardinal Federico Borromeo.
Other artists involved in the early development of the genre included Hendrick van Balen, Andries Daniels, Peter Paul Rubens and Daniel Seghers. The genre was initially connected to the visual imagery of the Counter-Reformation movement. It was further inspired by the cult of veneration and devotion to Mary prevalent at the Habsburg court (then the rulers over the Southern Netherlands) and in Antwerp generally). Garland paintings typically show a flower garland around a devotional image, portrait or other religious symbol (such as the host). Garland paintings were typically collaborations between a still life specialist and a figure painter.

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