BOSSCHE, Balthasar van den

Flemish painter. He studied with the Flemish genreGLOSSARYIn a broad sense, the term is used to mean a particular branch or category of art; landscape and portraiture, for example, are genres of painting, and the essay and the short story are genres of literature. painter Gerard Thomas (1663-1720), and was very much influenced by his teacher's genre style of interior painting, especially his depictions of well-furnished bourgeois rooms and conversation pieces, complete with detailed settings that helped to display his patrons' gentility. He established a reputation for such works, and was fascinated by the presentation of studio interiors and collectors' galleries, with the figures emblematic of the arts.

Van den Bossche was accepted into the Antwerp GuildGLOSSARYAn association of the masters of a particular craft, trade or profession (painters, goldsmiths, surgeons, and so on) set up to protect its members' rights and interests. Such guilds existed in virtually every European city in the 16th century. The guild also monitored standards of work, acted as a court for those who brought their trade into disrepute, and provided assistance to members in need. in 1697 before travelling to France where for some time he had a studio in Paris. He returned to Antwerp in 1700. There he worked for an art dealer, and continued to paint with notable success, receiving patronage from important figures such as the Duke of Marlborough in Antwerp after the Battle of Ramillies in 1706.

The artist's glittering career was cut short by his untimely death in 1715. He is said to have died by striking his head on a window while instructing his pupils.