Theodoor Rombouts: Virtuoso of Flemish Caravaggism

The Museum voor Schone Kunsten in Ghent makes a case for the little-known artist Theodoor Rombouts as the finest of the Flemish disciples of Caravaggio (21 January–23 April). After a sojourn in Italy in the early 17th century, Rombouts achieved success as a painter in his home town of Antwerp art scene before his death in 1637 at the age of 40, renowned for his gift for reconciling northern and southern traditions. Highlights of the exhibition include a number of the artist’s large-scale genre paintings, such as The Lute Player (c. 1625–30), which combine Italianate chiaroscuro with a vivid colour palette of red, purple and blue. Rombouts’s Allegory of the Five Senses (1632) – the first Old Master painting to be acquired by the MSK back in 1860 – is also on show. Find out more on the MSK’s website.

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Allegory of the Five Senses (1632), Theodoor Rombouts. Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Ghent

The Lute Player (c. 1625), Theodoor Rombouts. Philadelphia Museum of Art

The Card Players (c. 1637), Theodoor Rombouts. National Museum, Warsaw