LEYTENS, Gysbrecht
(b. 1586, Antwerpen, d. ca. 1656, Antwerpen)

Winter Landscape with Gypsies

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Oil on panel, 67 x 56 cm
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

The Antwerp painter Gysbrecht Leytens was a specialist of winter landscapes. These winter landscapes, sometimes with figures by Frans Francken II or Sebastian Vrancx, are always dominated by one or more large, leafless trees, covered with frost or snow, with impressive bare crowns of fantastically twisted branches. The painter combines this dominant motif with tunnel-like vistas.