Jan Pauwels Gillemans Biography
Jan Pauwel Gillemans known as the Elder (Antwerp, 1618 – Antwerp, 1675) was a Flemish painter. Coming from a family of goldsmiths, he entered the workshop of a painter relative of his in Liège. Master in Antwerp in 1648, the year he married; he practiced both goldsmithing and painting, specializing above all in still lifes. His paintings of flowers and fruit, generally small in size, are inspired by those of Jan Davidsz de Heem. They are often signed and dated, especially between 1652 and 1665, and are characterized by an often overloaded composition, a poorly pronounced modeling and an opaque colour. A typical example is his Prawns, Oysters and Fruit of 1662, now in the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium in Brussels. Other of his still lifes are found in Brussels, Bamberg and London. His son Jan Pauwel Gillemans the Younger was also his pupil and became a renowned painter. Another of his students was Jan Frans van Son, the son of Joris van Son.
