ANTON MIROU (Antwerp 1570 ? – after 1661)
Landscape with Farmers and Equestrians
oil on copper
13 x 20 4/5 inches (33 x 53 cm.)
PROVENANCE
Private collection
NOTE
Drs Luuk Pijl, expert on Flemish masters, confirmed the picture as a genuine work by Mirou.
Anton Mirou’s date and place of birth have not been determined with certainty. By 1586 his father Hendrick, an apothecary, appeared for the first time in records in Frankenthal. Like many other Protestants in Flanders and Brabant at the time, Hendrick Mirou and his family left Flanders to escape religious persecution, taking refuge in Frankenthal, where they came under the protection of the steadfast Calvinist, Frederick III, the Elector Palatine.
Mirou was one of the most accomplished of the landscape artists of the Frankenthal School. The best-known painter of the group was Gillis van Coninxloo, and Anton may have been his pupil, although no records supporting this have been identified. In 1602 Anton married Suzanna van Coninxloo, and he is mentioned often in the city archives until 1620, when he is presumed to have returned to Antwerp.
Mirou’s early work shows the influence of Coninxloo, especially in the compositional structure of his works as well as the repeated use of specific picturesque motifs such as rocks in the fortress, waterfalls, high bridges and hunters. The traditional division of the works into a brown foreground, green middle ground and a bluish background is another element of his work reminiscent of the works of Coninxloo. Mirou’s work shares many similarities with that of Pieter Schoubroeck, another Frankenthal artist strongly influenced by Coninxloo.
Prior to 1614 most of Mirou’s paintings were of forest landscapes. After that date Mirou was in process of developing his own maturity and his subject matter were village scenes which often consisted of a road passing through a village with rustic houses and forest covered hillsides in the background. He commonly employed numerous figures performing a myriad of activities to enliven these engaging scenes.