Jacob Leyssens

Jacob Leyssens (alternative names: Jacob Lyssens, Nicolaas Leyssens and N. Lyssens and nickname Notenkraker) (1661, Antwerp - 1710, Antwerp), was a Flemish painter and decorator from the Baroque.

He was a student of Peter Ykens in 1674. He travelled to Rome at a young age and he is mentioned there in 1680. He became a member of the Bentvueghels, an association of mainly Dutch and Flemish artists active in Rome, with the nickname ‘Notenkraker’ (Nutcracker). He was probably one of the youngest Bentvueghels ever admitted.

The difficult financial situation of his father caused him to return to Antwerp. He was admitted as a 'wijnmeester' (wine master) to the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke in 1698. As this is a title reserved for the sons of members of the Guild, it demonstrates that his father was also a member of the Guild at that time. He was active in Antwerp as a painter in the period 1698–1710.

He decorated many rooms and ceilings in prominent residences and buildings in Antwerp and collaborated with other artists such as Jan Baptist Bosschaert and Gaspar Peeter Verbruggen the Younger, who painted the flowers and other ancillary objects.

He was proficient in the painting of still lifes of fruit. The early Dutch biographer Jacob Campo Weyerman referred to Jacob Leyssens as a history painter, which indicates that he also painted in this genre. A religious painting entitled St. Joseph with the Child Jesus was listed in the inventory on the death of J.J. Moretus and was made over to the city of Antwerp in 1876 when the Plantin-Moretus printing company was sold to the city. Several of his works have survived and are kept by museums such as the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg.

...
Wikipedia