David Rijckaert

David Rijckaert II (1586 in Antwerp – 1642 in Antwerp) was a Flemish painter and art dealer active in Antwerp. He contributed to the early development of still lifes as an independent genre through his delicate rendering of banquets and sumptuous tabletop still lifes. Life David Rijckaert II was born in Antwerp in 1586 as the oldest child of David Rijckaert the Elder and Catharina Rem. As the family was Protestant, young David was not baptized in a Catholic church. After the restrictions on Protestants became tighter, his parents reconverted to Catholicism and had David baptized in the Antwerp Cathedral following Catholic rites on 9 August 1589. This was a few days before they married each other for a second time in a Catholic church. David the Elder was a brewer and a painter of wooden statues who had become a master of the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke in 1585. He is also mentioned as a dealer in paintings. David Rijckaert II had 7 younger siblings of whom Marten (born in 1587) became a prominent landscape painter. David trained with his father and became a master painter of the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke in the guild year 1607–1608. David Rijckaert II spent his entire career in Antwerp. He married Catharina de Merre on 19 July 1608. The couple had at least two children: Catharina in 1610 and David III in 1612. Some records note a second daughter Martina born in 1616. David Rijckaert II appears not to have achieved great success as a painter. He likely worked as an art dealer to supplement his income. He never had sufficient resources to buy a property. Nevertheless, he must have enjoyed a good reputation among fellow artists as the young Peter Paul Rubens collaborated with him on the Sleeping Silenus (circa 1611, Academy of Fine Arts Vienna). Ryckaert was tasked with adding the glasses, metalwork and porcelain to the composition of Rubens. A third artist painted in the grapes.