This month we are captivated by the new study of Dr Leen Kelchtermans and Dr Katharina Van Cauteren published in the international peer-reviewed journal devoted to Dutch and Flemish art, Simiolus.

From drawings to comprehensive work of art: a reconstruction of Jacob Jordaens’s Psyche Gallery in his Antwerp house summarises five years of research where Leen and Katharina investigated Jacob Jordaens’ ceiling paintings about Amor and Psyche. The research focused on what the reception room in the Antwerp home of the Baroque master must have looked like, which made it possible to reconstruct Jordaens’ “pronkkamer” for the first time in almost 400 years. Consequently, they discovered that the artist dazzled his guests with impressive ceiling pieces and illusionistic paintings on the walls and even on the doors! Both the ceiling and the door pieces are now in the collection of The Phoebus Foundation.

Jacob Jordaens, Love of Amor and Psyche, c.1652
Trompe-l’oeil Door Panel: a Young Man with a Dog and a Young Woman, c.1640-1645
Trompe-l’oeil Door Panel: a Young Woman, an Old Man, a Fool and a Hissing Cat, c.1640-1645

Read everything about this fascinating study in: Leen Kelchtermans & Katharina Van Cauteren, ‘From drawings to comprehensive work of art: a reconstruction of Jacob Jordaens’s Psyche Gallery in his Antwerp house’, Simiolus, 44/1 (2022), pp. 28-59.