Archduke Leopold's Gallery, 1651 (oil on canvas)

Leopold Wilhelm of Austria (1614-62) military commander and Governor of the Spanish Netherlands; In 1651 Teniers was appointed Court Painter to the Archduke Leopold William (1614-1661), Governor of the Spanish Netherlands. He therefore, in essence, became the curator of the Gallery formed by the Archduke in the Coudenberg Palace at Brussels. This was also the year in which he painted the first three of his eleven imaginary depictions of the gallery. The compositions vary, but the most elaborate are that of the present painting and the almost identical scene, which is now in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. It seems likely that the present picture was the very first of them, since it was when staying with Antoon Triest, Bishop of Ghent, in November 1647, that Leopold Wilhelm first made the acquaintance of the artist and his pictures. Triest is shown in the picture, and was probably also the recipient of it. Most of the pictures are identifiable today.