Animalistic — Old Master Paintings and Sculpture
Paulus Potter was a Dutch painter who specialized in animals within landscapes, usually with a low vantage point.
Before Potter died of tuberculosis at the age of 28 he succeeded in producing about 100 paintings, working continuously.
Jan Bruegel the Younger was a Flemish Baroque painter. He was the son of Jan Brueghel the Elder, and grandson of Pieter Bruegel the Elder, both prominent painters who contributed respectively to the development of Renaissance and Baroque painting in the Habsburg Netherlands. Taking over his father's workshop at an early age, he painted the same subjects as his father in a style which was similar to that of his father. He regularly collaborated with leading Flemish painters of his time.
Pieter Casteels III was a Flemish painter, engraver and designer, a member of the Guild of St. Luke in Antwerp.
He was born into the family of the painter Pieter Casteels II or the Younger (1673-1701), who gave his son his first lessons in painting. In 1708 Peter went to London, where he became active in the London art community and a member of the Rose and Crown Club.
Casteells successfully painted numerous floral still lifes with exotic birds, which were favored by the nobility of the time, as well as idyllic scenes with domestic birds and animals. His works were also often used as decorations for fireplaces and doors. The great success of this genre led the artist to publish the Twelve Months of Flowers and Twelve Months of Fruit series - these prints served as models for workers in textiles and other luxury industries.
In 1735 Peter Casteells III retired from painting and turned his attention to textile design, working for the rest of his life for textile manufacturers in Surrey and then London.
