Art (Pendant to Science), Gerard Thomas

Art (Pendant to Science), After Gerard Thomas en Formerly attributed to Balthasar van den Bossche (1699)

Large workshop with many sculpted busts and figures. At left in front of window, a well-dressed seated man at table with open book. Celestial globe in center, and to right a seated man painting at easel holds pallet and brush, turns right toward second standing man. In right background a large fireplace and five men clustered around a figurine.

Gerard Thomas was a late Flemish Baroque painter who specialized in studio and picture gallery interiors. He became a master in Antwerp's Guild of St. Luke in 1688–89, and was dean twice. Many of his paintings reflect a trend in Antwerp painting around 1700 that shows artists—often historical masters from earlier in the century like Peter Paul Rubens, Anthony van Dyck or Jacob Jordaens—in their studios, surrounded by paintings and sculptures, and teaching the craft to a young apprentice. The masters are often only hinted by the works of art pictured in the painting itself, however.