Hendrick Van Balen Biography | Oil Paintings.

Hendrick van Balen family was relatively prosperous and thus able to let Hendrick have a good education which included the study of numerous languages. Van Balen was a pupil of Adam van Noort and also of Maerten de Vos in Antwerp. At the age of seventeen in 1592, he became a member of the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke.

Although there is no record of him traveling in Italy from 1595 to 1602, Hendrick van Balen indeed studied art in Italy because on his return to Antwerp seven years later, he became a member of the Guild of Romanists, and to become a member one would have to have visited Rome.

In 1605 Hendrick van Balen married and had 11 children, three of his sons became painters: Jan van Balen, Gaspard van Balen and Hendrick van Balen the Younger, and his daughter Maria married the painter Theodoor van Thulden. In 1608 he was the vice dean of the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke and in 1609 he was the dean, and in 1613 the Guild of Romanists chose him as its dean. In 1613 he accompanied Peter Paul Rubens and Jan Brueghel the Elder on a diplomatic mission to the Dutch Republic, where they met Hendrick Goltzius and other Haarlem artists.

Early in his career Hendrick van Balen created several large altarpieces, which show the influence of his teacher Adam van Noort. His later altarpieces, with their rich and subtle palette, appear to have been painted after van Dyck arrives in his studio. Hendrick van Balen also painted mythological and biblical scenes on small copper plates. Hendrick van Balen played a role in the development of the genre of garland paintings, which typically show a flower garland around a devotional image or portrait.

Hendrick van Balen had a successful studio for over 30 years and taught many artists including his son Jan van Balen, Anthony van Dyck and Frans Snyders and was also a contemporary of many of the famous Flemish artists. Hendrick van Balen often collaborated with other artists such as Joos de Momper, Gaspar de Witte, Jan Brueghel the Elder and the Younger, and Rubens.

Art Movement: Baroque Art.
Artists Influencing Hendrick van Balen: Adam van Noort, Maerten de Vos.
He Traveled To Italy, Netherlands.
Painters Hendrick van Balen Influenced: Jan van Balen, Anthony van Dyck, Frans Snyders.
Artist Biography compiled by Albert L. Mansour at The World's Artist, with text adapted from Wikipedia.