| Gerard Seghers was a Flemish painter, art collector, and art dealer. After a period of study and residence in Italy, he returned to Flanders where he became one of the leading representatives of the Flemish Caravaggisti movement.
In his later career he abandoned the Caravaggist style and genre motifs to become an important painter of large altarpieces for local churches. Seghers is known mainly for his monumental genre paintings and large religious and allegorical works. He completed many altarpieces for churches in the Southern Netherlands. Most of his works are executed in a characteristic landscape (horizontal) format By the time he died in Antwerp in 1651, Seghers was a wealthy man who owned a comfortable house and an extensive art collection |
