Matthäus Merian the Younger, painter in Van Dyck’s Studio: On an identified painting of Vertumnus and Pomona

Abstract

The painting of Vertumnus and Pomona, signed “MMerian pinxit,” is a new contribution to Matthäus Merian the Younger’s oeuvre. This discovery offers an occasion to call attention to the artist, whose presence from 1639 in Anton van Dyck’s London studio has been overlooked. Analyses of style and sources of inspiration suggest coincidences with two other very vandyckian painters, Thomas Willeboirts Bosschaert and Peeter Thijs, which disclose a most interesting circuit of influences and interconnections in the shadow of Van Dyck, under whose impact their styles took shape. Thus, in search of more light on the master’s relatively unknown London studio, the circumstances in which the young Merian came into contact with Van Dyck are reconstructed, while suggesting a virtual meeting with Peeter Thijs.