Abel Grimmer

ABEL GRIMMER 1570 – Antwerp – 1618/9 Abel Grimmer was the son of Jacob Grimmer (1525-before May 1590) and like his father specialised in landscapes, often sets of the Four Seasons or the Months of the Year which include a Biblical scene. He married Catharina Lescornet in 1591 and the following year became a master in the Antwerp Guild of St Luke. Grimmer was influenced by his father and also by Pieter Brueghel the Elder and Hans Bol. Some of his landscapes are copied directly from prints after Brueghel and Bol. For example, his 1592 series of the Twelve months of the year (Chapelle Nôtre-Dame, Montfaucon-en-Velay, Haute-Loire) are exact copies of Adriaen Collaert’s prints after Hans Bol, published in 1585. Grimmer’s landscapes are strong and simple, with splendid colour harmonies, an emphasis on linearity and a geometric approach to the treatment of architecture. He also painted church interiors such as The interior of a gothic church with a Franciscan monk preaching (private collection). His interest in perspective and golden light anticipates the work of Pieter Saenredam. Two architectural drawings by Grimmer have survived, an elevation of the gable of Antwerp Cathedral and a church gable with a gothic spire (Paul Saintenoy Collection, Brussels, before 1900). In paintings such as Jesus in the house of Martha and Mary (Musée d’Art Ancien, Brussels), Grimmer is particularly fascinated by the challenge of portraying interior space. He frequently collaborated with other artists, including Frans Francken the Elder (1542-1616) and Frans Francken the Younger (1581-1642), who provided the figures in his landscapes. Abel Grimmer died in Antwerp in 1618/19. The work of Abel Grimmer is represented in the Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, Brussels; the Groeningemuseum, Bruges; the Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Antwerp; the National Gallery of Art, Washington DC and the Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle, Durham.