Nurse of Painters
Shortly after the founding of Antwerp Academy, three large paintings were executed for its meeting hall. Antwerp, Nurse of Painters, by Theodoor Boeyermans (1665; 188 x 454 cm), promotes the city's recent artistic past. Portraits of Peter Paul Rubens and Anthony van Dyck watch over students as they practise the arts. At the centre is the allegorical Antverpia pictorum nutrix ("Antwerp, nurse of painters"). Chronos accompanies other young students who present their artwork. The river god Scaldis, a personification of Antwerp's river Scheldt, symbolises with his cornucopia the wealth and bounty of the city's artistic heritage.
Read more about this topic: Royal Academy Of Fine Arts (Antwerp)