Tobias Verhaert (1561-1631): Travelers in a mountainous coastal landscape, oil on panel marked Michiel Vriendt

Tobias Verhaert (1561-1631): Travelers in a mountainous coastal landscape, oil on panel marked Michiel Vriendt Work: 66 x 50 cm Frame: 76,5 x 60 cm The reverse with the Antwerp panel maker's mark of Michiel Vriendt (cloverleaf motif, link). In 1605, Michiel Vrient was registered as an apprentice in the workshop of panel maker Robijn Pulinck. Ten years later he acquired his master's status, after which he taught the trade to several apprentices. The fact that Michiel Vriendt ran a successful workshop can be read not only from the relative wealth that appears in his estate inventory, drawn up in 1637. Numerous accounts and other archival data show this, as does the frequency with which his mark is found. After the master's death his widow continued the workshop for about a year, together with Michiel's brother Nicolaes. In 1638, however, the enterprise was liquidated (link;see: Van Damme, Jan. 'The Antwerp panel-makers and their marks.' In Jordaens Van Dyck Panel Paintings Project. Updated by Ingrid Moortgat and Piet Bakker, edited by Joost Vander Auwera, with an introduction, and Justin Davies. Translated by Michael Lomax. See also Wadum, Jørgen. The Antwerp Brand on Paintings on Panel'. In Looking Through Paintings, eds. Erma Hermens et al, vol 11, pp. 179-98. London, Archetype Publications Ltd. 1998).