Cornelis de Vos | Children portrait, c. 1600

Cornelis de Vos (1584-1651) was a Flemish Baroque painter, best known for his portraiture. He was born in Hulst near Antwerp, now in the Dutch province of Zeeland. Little is known of his childhood. Cornelis and his younger brothers Paul and Jan studied under the little-known painter David Remeeus (1559-1626). De Vos joined the guild of Saint Luke in 1608 at the age of twenty-four, later serving as its dean in 1628. When he became a citizen of Antwerp in 1616 he listed his occupation as an art dealer.

His sister Margaretha married Frans Snyders, while Cornelis himself married Jan Wildens's half-sister Susanna Cock. He was the master of Jan Cossiers, Alexander Daemps and Simon de Vos. De Vos died in Antwerp, where he was buried in the cathedral.

Paul de Vos and Snyders were both animaliers, or painters of animals, and Wildens was known for his landscape. Cornelis did not share either of these specializations. Instead, he painted mythological, biblical and history scenes, still lifes and, in the late 1620s, some monumental Genre paintings.

De Vos was most successful as a painter of individual and group portraits in which he developed his own style.

His style closely follows that of Anthony van Dyck and, to a lesser extent, Peter Paul Rubens. De Vos worked frequently as a collaborator with Rubens. Around 1617 he painted two panels, the Nativity and the Presentation in the Temple, that were part of a series of paintings on the theme of the "Mystery of the Rosary Cycle" in which other local painters, including Rubens (who oversaw the project), van Dyck, and Jacob Jordaens participated. De Vos' two paintings joined the 13 paintings made by these other painters in Antwerp's church of St. Paul where they were to flank Caravaggio's Madonna of the Rosary, which was placed in the church in 1620.

In 1635, De Vos assisted Rubens on the joyous entry of Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand, a project for which he painted twelve royal portraits to Rubens's designs. Between 1636 and 1638 he worked again for Rubens, along with his brother Paul in decorating the Torre de la Parada, a hunting lodge of Philip IV of Spain near Madrid.

Cornelis often collaborated with colleagues as was common in Antwerp at the time: he painted the staffage in still lifes by Frans Snyders and in return Snyders and his brother Paul painted the fruit, animals, silver plate and armour in his own work. Jan Wildens assisted with the landscapes in many of his works.

Vos ‹vòs›, Cornelis de - Pittore fiammingo (nato a Hulst circa il 1585, morto ad Anversa il 9 maggio 1651). Allievo di David Remeeus di Anversa, viaggiò dal 1604-1608. Maestro in Anversa nel 1608, decano nel 1618 e nel 1621. Dipinse composizioni di carattere religioso e mitologico, ma specialmente ritratti in cui si propose gli esempî del Rubens e del Van Dyck. Ma l'arte sua ha un accento più arcaico. C. d. V. riproduce, con sincerità e precisione, la fisionomia dei suoi concittadini, dai quali ebbe numerose ordinazioni. Nella pittura storica la sua maniera, che rimane estranea allo stile barocco, manca di dinamismo. Sue opere al museo di Anversa, di Bruxelles, di Berlino, di Kassel, ecc.

Pauwel, suo fratello minore (nato a Hulst circa il 1590, morto ad Anversa nel 1678), fu allievo ad Anversa di Denis van Hove prima, di David Remeeus e Fr. Snyders dopo. Dipinse animali e cacce. Sue opere nei musei di Bruxelles, Gand, Dresda, L'Aia, Madrid, Monaco, Leningrado, Schleissheim e Vienna. / © di Arthur Laes, Treccani, Enciclopedia Italiana