Jordaens, Jacob or Jacques [key], 1593–1678, Flemish baroque painter, b. Antwerp. After the deaths of Rubens and Van Dyck, by whom he was influenced, he became the leading Flemish painter of his day and worked in Antwerp nearly all his life. Like Rubens, Jordaens produced portraits and religious and allegorical paintings, often expressing a joy of life. In early works (c.1612–25), such as The Artist's Family (Hermitage, St. Petersburg) and Allegory of Fertility (Brussels), he reveals the influence of Caravaggio in his firm modeling and realistically treated surface. Works executed c.1625–35 show increased grandeur and richness (Triumph of Bacchus; Kassel), and in the next years Rubens and Van Dyck influences are especially clear. In the last 25 years of his life, Jordaens stressed increasingly the classicist elements in baroque art, moving from the energetic Triumph of Prince Frederik Hendrik of Orange (The Hague) to the more rigidly composed Christ and the Doctors (Mainz). Examples of his work may be seen in many of the major museums of Europe and the United States.
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