Teniers, DAVID, the Elder, a Flemish master, was born at Antwerp in 1582. A pupil of Elsheimer at Rome and Rubens at Antwerp, he was admitted to the painters' guild of St Luke in his native city, and died there on 29th July 1649. His subjects are in general homely, the interiors of public-houses, rustic games, weddings, and the like; but they are full of reality, charm of colour, and happy ease of composition.—DAVID TENIERS, the Younger, son of the preceding, was born at Antwerp, 15th December 1610. He received his first lessons from his father, and the influence of his own contemporary, Adrian Bronwer, is strongly marked on his earlier work. He rose quickly to distinction, enjoying the favour and friendship of the Archduke Leopold William, Don Juan, bastard son of Philip IV. of Austria, the Prince of Orange, the Bishop of Ghent, and other dignitaries. His first wife was a daughter of the painter Breughel. He was admitted 'master' of the guild of St Luke in 1632, and in 1644 was elected its president by the common council of Antwerp; in 1647 he took up his abode at Brussels, where he died, 25th April 1690. Of his pictures John Smith in his Catalogue Raisonné enumerates no fewer than seven hundred. They possess, but in superlative degree, the qualities that mark his father's work. In the tone of his skies, the drawing of his trees, the animation and grouping of his figures, we see everywhere the presence of a richer, finer, more observant and more imaginative genius. None has realised more richly the charm of joyous open-air life. His scriptural subjects alone are unsatisfactory.
See also Kugler's Handbook to the German, Flemish, and Dutch Schools, remodelled by Waagen, rewritten by Crowe (1874).