Oil on copper
One Signed lower right: “P. Gys” 

Provenance:

Consul General and Director Henry Wallenberg

The panel with the boats can be compared with a closely related miniature in the Historisches Museum Frankfurt (inv. no. Pr661), once part of the famed Prehn cabinet of miniatures.

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The Artist

Peeter Gijsels was a Flemish Baroque painter based in Antwerp, best known for his jewel-like landscapes, architectural capriccios, and flower still lifes.

Gijsels worked almost exclusively for the open market, catering to an elite clientele in Antwerp and beyond. He favoured the copper support for its smooth surface and ability to hold minute detail, often producing small-scale works intended for the collector’s cabinet,  private, contemplative works of art that reward close viewing.

The Artwork

Together these paintings reflect Gijsels’ deep immersion in the Brueghelian idiom, filtered through his own delicate hand. His work evokes a world of ordered harmony and rural vitality, framed within the intimate format prized by 17th-century collectors. In these two works, narrative, nature, and artistry meet in perfect miniature.