Jacob Jordaens (1593–1678) was a Flemish painter, draughtsman, and designer of tapestries and prints. Born and residing in Antwerp his entire life, he trained under Adam van Noort. After the deaths of Peter Paul Rubens and Anthony van Dyck, Jordaens became the leading Flemish Baroque painter of his era.
Jordaens was a prolific artist, creating biblical, mythological, and allegorical compositions, genre scenes, landscapes, illustrations of Flemish sayings, and portraits. Unlike his contemporaries Rubens and Van Dyck, he never traveled abroad to study Italian painting and remained largely indifferent to their intellectual and courtly aspirations, expressing this through a less idealistic treatment of his subjects. His artistic influences included Rubens, particularly in the use of chiaroscuro, and northern Italian painters such as Jacopo Bassano, Paolo Veronese, and Caravaggio.
Initially patronized by the wealthy bourgeoisie and local churches, Jordaens later received royal commissions from figures like King Charles I of England and Queen Christina of Sweden. While often considered a collaborator rather than a formal pupil of Rubens, he regularly worked independently alongside him. His large-scale genre scenes, such as The King Drinks and As the Old Sing, So Pipe the Young, became particularly associated with his work.
