GRIMMER, Abel

Flemish painter, son of Jacob Grimmer. He studied with his father in Antwerp, then in 1592 he was accepted as Master of the 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. of the Painters of Saint Luke.

He was the specialist of series devoted to the Four Seasons and Twelve Months, which resemble panelGLOSSARYTerm in painting for a support of wood, metal, or other rigid substance, as distinct from canvas. Until the adoption of canvas in the 15th century nearly all the movable paintings of Europe were executed on wood, and even up to the beginning of the 17th century it is probable that as much painting was done on the one support as on the other. Painters who worked on a small scale often used copper panels (Elsheimer is a leading example), and in the colonial art of South America copper and tin and even lead and zinc were used. On a larger scale, slate has occasionally been used as a support, notably by Rubens for his altarpiece for Sta Maria in Vallicella (the Chiesa Nuova) in Rome; the picture he originally painted was said to reflect the light unpleasantly and slate was used for the replacement to produce a more matt finish. For wood panels the Italian masters of the Renaissance preferred white poplar, while oak was the most common wood used in northern Europe. Many other types were used, however; analysis of the contents of art galleries has yielded a long list, including beech, cedar, chestnut, fir, larch, linden, mahogany, olive, and walnut. In the 20th century cedar, teak, and dark walnut are favourites, and modern painters have also used plywood, fibre-board, and other synthetic materials as supports. transpositions of miniaturist calendars. He was a contemporary of Pieter Brueghel the Younger and, like him, though in a highly personal fashion, interpreted certain engravings and models designed by Pieter Bruegel the Elder and Hans Bol. He thus remained deeply attached to the spirit and rather archaic conception of the sixteenth century.

He is characterized by strict, precise graphics, a synthetic vision of nature following in the foot-path of the primitives and miniatureGLOSSARYTerm originally applied to the art of manuscript illumination but later used of paintings, usually portraits, executed on a very small scale. The earliest miniaturists (16th century) continued to use the materials of the illuminators, painting in gouache on vellum or card. painters, a composition with schematic lines, and great subtlety in the choice and juxtaposition of the tones.