69 - Antoine, Anton, Anthonie Mirou (Antwerp 1570 – after 1661)

Antoine, Anton, Anthonie Mirou (Antwerp 1570 – after 1661) Landscape with Shepherds and a Flock Led by an Old Man with a Flute Oil on canvas 91 x 113 cm Mirou is believed to have been born in Antwerp in 1570; however, the details of his birth are not entirely certain. In fact, during those same years, his personal details appear quite commonly in the records of the Guild of Saint Luke in Antwerp. His father, Hendrick Mirou, and his family left Flanders to escape religious persecution, taking refuge in Frankenthal under Calvinist protection. Anthoine Mirou was one of the most accomplished landscape painters of the Frankenthal School, alongside Pieter Schoubroeck and Gillis van Coninxloo, who was likely his teacher. Mirou’s early works show a strong influence from Coninxloo, especially in specific picturesque motifs such as cliffs, waterfalls, high bridges, wayfarers, and hunters. At times, unlike his teacher, he displayed a more vivid and nuanced use of color: he loved to contrast the intensely blue sky with the warmer hues of dawn or dusk, or to imbue the distant landscape with a crystalline blue—characteristics that suggest Mirou had the opportunity to observe the style of Jan Brueghel the Elder and absorb this particular trait. Antoine, Anton, Anthonie Mirou (Antwerp 1570 – after 1661) Landscape with Shepherds and a Flock Led by an Old Man Playing the Flute Oil on canvas 91 x 113 cm