Art Institute of Chicago

The Abduction of Europa

David Teniers the Younger (Flemish, 1610–1690)

Date

1654–56

Medium

Oil on panel

Culture

Italy

Department

Painting and Sculpture of Europe

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

The Abduction of Europa and Abraham’s Sacrifice of Isaac are among the more than 200 lively, small-scale copies by David Teniers the Younger recording the superb art collection of his patron, Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria, ruler of the Spanish Netherlands. They were created as models for the engraved illustrations in a catalogue of the archduke’s collection, which was printed and made available for purchase by the public as the Theatrum Pictorium (Theater of painting) in 1660. A prolific painter of peasant subjects and other everyday scenes, Teniers also served as the archduke’s curator.

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