View source for David Teniers the Elder

{{Short description|Flemish painter (1582–1649)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2021}}
[[File:David Teniers I - gulden cabinet.png|thumb|right|David Teniers in [[Het Gulden Kabinet]], engraved by [[Peter van Liesebetten]] after a painting by Peter de Mol, 1661.]]
[[Image:Teniers Elder Village Feast.jpg|right|thumb|David Teniers the Elder, ''Village Feast,'' Panel <br> Accademia Carrara, Bergamo]]

'''David Teniers the Elder''' (1582{{snd}}29 July 1649), [[Flemings|Flemish]] [[Painting|painter]], was born at [[Antwerp]] of a family originally from [[Ath]].

==Biography==
[[Image:Teniers the Elder Venus Visiting Vulcans Forge.jpg|right|thumb|David Teniers the Elder, ''[[Venus (mythology)|Venus]] Visiting [[Vulcan (mythology)|Vulcan]]'s Forge,'' <br> [[The National Museum of Western Art]], [[Tokyo]]]]
The Teniers family of painters came from [[Ath]], a town in [[County of Hainaut|Hainaut]].<ref>About his family, see Jules Dewert, ''Origine wallonne des peintres Teniers'', in the ''Bulletin de la Commission royale d'Histoire'', 1911, n° 80, pp. 287-319, ''on line'' in the Portail Persée [https://www.persee.fr/doc/bcrh_0001-415x_1911_num_80_1_1902].</ref> 

Having received his first training in the painter's art from his brother [[Juliaan Teniers|Juliaen]], he studied under [[Peter Paul Rubens|Rubens]] in Antwerp, and subsequently under [[Adam Elsheimer|Elsheimer]] in [[Rome]]; he became a member of the Antwerp guild of painters in 1606.<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=1|wstitle=Teniers |display=Teniers ''s.v.'' David Teniers, the elder|volume=26 |page=616  |first1=Henri |last1=Hymans |first2=Paul |last2=Konody|authorlink2=Paul George Konody}}</ref>

Though his ambition led him at times to try his skill in large religious, historical and mythological compositions, his claim to fame depends chiefly on his landscapes and paintings of peasants carousing, of [[Kermesse (festival)|kermesse]] scenes and the like, which are marked by a healthy sense of humour, and which are not infrequently confused with the early works of his son [[David Teniers the Younger|David]].<ref name="EB1911"/>

There is a large painting by the elder Teniers at [[St. Paul's Church, Antwerp]], representing the ''Works of Charity''. At the [[Kunsthistoriches Museum]] are four landscapes painted by Teniers under the influence of Elsheimer, and four small mythological subjects, among them ''Vertumnus and Pomona'', and ''Juno, Jupiter and Io''. The [[National Gallery]] has a characteristic scene of village life, ''Playing at Bowls'', a ''Conversation of three men and a woman'', and a large ''Rocky Landscape''. Other examples of his work are to be found at the galleries of [[St Petersburg]], [[Madrid]], [[Brussels]], [[Munich]], [[Dresden]] and [[Berlin]] (''The Temptation of St Anthony'').<ref name="EB1911"/>{{Vague|date=May 2025|reason=Which galleries? these cities have more than one}}

Teniers also achieved success as a picture dealer, and is known to have attended the fair of St Germain in Paris in 1635, with a large number of paintings by himself and by his four sons. He died at Antwerp in 1649.<ref name="EB1911"/>

==See also==
*[[David Teniers the Younger]]
*[[David Teniers III]]
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==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Commons category|David Teniers the Elder}}

{{ACArt}}

{{EB1911 article with no significant updates}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Teniers, David, The Elder}}
[[Category:1582 births]]
[[Category:1649 deaths]]
[[Category:17th-century Flemish painters]]
[[Category:Flemish landscape painters]]
[[Category:Flemish Baroque painters]]
[[Category:Painters from Antwerp]]
[[Category:Pupils of Peter Paul Rubens]]