- NameDavid III Ryckaert
- Sexmale
- Nationality/DatesFlemish, born 1612, dead 1661
BiographyGenre painter. Son of the landscape painter
David Ryckaert II, David III belonged to an extended
family of artists: his grandfather David I was a painter,
as was his uncle, the landscapist Marten Rijckaert.
The younger Ryckaert was a pupil of his father; Gonzales
Coques was his co-pupil and later became his
brother-in-law. He enrolled as a free master in the
Antwerp Guild of St. Luke in 1636/1637. In 1647 he
joined the Chamber of Rhetoricians “De Violieren”,
and in 1651 he was named Dean of the painters’
guild. Among his many distinguished patrons was the
Archduke Leopold Wilhelm, who owned several of
his paintings.
Ryckaert was a versatile painter of genre scenes,
and dated paintings are extant from 1637 until the
year of his death. His earliest works are rustic peasant
companies in the manner of the Dutch-born genre
painter Adriaen Brouwer, usually painted in warm
colours and with the use of a powerful chiaroscuro, frequently
with particular attention lavished on still life
elements. Later he came under the influence of David
Teniers II, the most important Flemish genre painter
of his age, and his palette became lighter and his
colours grew cooler. Like Teniers II, Ryckaert also
painted alchemists and fantastical demons in scenes of
witchcraft and temptation. Under the influence of
Gonzales Coques and others, from about 1650 Ryckaert
increasingly depicted high-life scenes, predominantly
musical companies.