Gillis van Coninxloo 1544–1607

By Leila Allan

Gillis Van Coninxloo, Forest Landscape, 1598, Oil on Panel, 42cm x 61cm, Liechtenstein Museum, Vienna

Regarded as one of the most significant landscape painters of sixteenth century Europe, Gillis van Coninxloo was born in Antwerp on the 24th of January 1544. Coninxloo did not remain in Antwerp for an extended period, rather travelling extensively around Europe throughout his life. This inevitably led to several stylistic developments within his work. Beginning his artistic career in Antwerp, Coninxloo apprenticed for the Flemish artist Pieter Coecke van Aelst, who worked in the mannerist style, a clear influence on the early oeuvre of Coninxloo. Indeed, Coninxloo’s oeuvre presents a clear movement from mannerism towards the baroque as he developed in his career. Following his apprenticeship, Coninxloo travelled to France, albeit briefly, returning to Flanders in 1570 to join the ‘Antwerp’s Guild of Saint Luke’. As Coninxloo’s Calvinist beliefs conflicted with the Catholicism imposed by the Spanish monarch presiding over southern Netherlands, he was forced to leave Antwerp in 1585 due to the threat of religious persecution. Coninxloo settled in Frankethal in Germany until 1595, when he relocated once more to Amsterdam. Such itinerance reflected a wider migratory pattern familiar to artists at the time.

Originally training in Antwerp, Coninxloo became a principal member of the Frankenthal school later in his career. While his early work reflected a sense of artificiality associated with the mannerist style of his first teacher, his later work reflected a greater sense of realism. Coninxloo’s Forest Landscape (1598) represents a later piece of his oeuvre executed during his time in Amsterdam. Forest Landscape offers a close-up scene of woodlands. The extended branches of the trees dominate the background, creating a densely occupied space in which limited pictorial space is left bare. Tonal variations of greens, browns and ochre dominate the composition, while stark contrasts in light prevail to emphasise the foreground, while accentuating the dark depths of the woodland of the background. Coninxloo died in Amsterdam on the 4th of January 1607, leaving a significant impact on the landscape painting. Indeed, Coninxloo’s oeuvre informed many Dutch landscape painters of the seventeenth century, including Jan Brueghel the Elder.

Bibliography  

“Gillis van Conninxloo: Forest Landscape.” Liechtenstein: The Princely Collections. http://www.liechtensteincollections.at/en/pages/artbase_main.asp?module=browse&action=m_work&lang=en&sid=87294&oid=W-147200412195342024 

“Gillis van Coninxloo.” The J. Paul Getty Museum. http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/artists/874/gillis-van-coninxloo-flemish-1544-1607/

“Gillis van Coninxloo.” Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Gillis-van-Coninxloo

“Property from a Private European Collection: Gillis van Coninxloo II (Antwerp 1544-1606 Amsterdam).” Christie’s. https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-5868430