OOSTEN, Izaac van
(b. 1613, Antwerpen, d. 1661, Antwerpen)

Ebony Veneered Cabinet (detail)

c. 1645
Wood, ebony, oil on panel
Private collection

This late Renaissance ebony veneered cabinet from Antwerp is decorated with village landscapes and scenes from daily life by Izaac van Oosten. It is an excellent example of the highly skilled furniture-making practice that flourished in seventeenth-century Antwerp. Cabinet makers employed skilled painters to complete their creations with small pictures. As the popularity of these intricate objects grew, so too did their decoration and the level of quality in the paintings.