Flemish painter, son and pupil of Jacob van Oost the Elder. He settled in Lille, where he continued his father's tradition, albeit in a somewhat more diffuse style, in which suggestive use is made of flakily smeared brushstrokes. His lifelike PortraitGLOSSARYThe Roman portrait bust survived in the form of life-sized reliquaries of saints, but it was in 15th century Florence that the individual features and character of a contemporary sitter were accurately recorded by sculptors such as Donatello, Desiderio da Settignano, Mino da Fiesole and the Rossellino. A similar degree of realism occurs in 15th century tomb sculpture. The equestrian portrait, based on antique statues such as the Marcus Aurelius monument (Rome, Campidoglio), was revived in the 14th century. Two examples in fresco are Simone Martini's Guidoriccio (c. 1328; Siena, Palazzo Pubblico) and the posthumous portrait of Sir John Hawkwood (1436; Florence, Cathedral) by Uccello, which gives the illusion of a 3-dimensional statue seen from below. The Venetian Republic ordered imposing monuments from Donatello (1447; Gattarnelata, Padua) and Verrocchio (14799; Colleoni, Venice), whilst other statesmen ordered their own images to be erected in public places, directly relating themselves to the military heroes of ancient Rome. Another form of political portraiture derived from antiquity was the commemorative portrait medal designed by artists such as Pisanello. The carved or painted profile portrait became popular in the 1450s. The realism of the clear, flattened image, painted under the influence of Flemish examples by the Pollaiuolo brothers, Piero della Francesca and Botticelli, was superseded by the three-quarter and frontal portrait, psychologically more complex, such as Leonardo's enigmatic Mona Lisa (Paris, Louvre) with her momentary smile or Andrea del Sarto's arresting Portrait of a Man (London, National Gallery). The 16th century portrait became generalized, Lotto's Andrea Odoni (1527; Royal Collection) being an idealized concept of a collector rather than an individual. Group portraits, decorating whole rooms, include the narrative scenes of the Gonzaga court painted by Mantegna (completed 1474; Mantua, Palazzo Ducale) and the elaborate schemes commissioned by the Farnese family in Rome from Vasari (1546; Palazzo della Cancelleria) and Salviati (after 1553; Palazzo Farnese). Portraits were also incorporated into religious narratives, as in Ghirlandaio's fresco cycle painted for Giovanni Tornabuoni in S. Maria Novella, Florence (1486-90). of a Man (1697) is a good example of his painting style.
Like his father, Jacob the Younger traveled to expand his artistic horizons. He lived in Paris for two years before traveling to Rome (c. 1660-65), and returned to live for a short time in Bruges before moving to Paris about 1668. He then settled for good in Lille where he married Marie Bourgeois in 1670 and where he obtained numerous commissions from local churches and cloisters.
After his wife's death in 1697, Jacob continued his attachment to his hometown of Bruges making periodic visits. Between 1659 and 1670 he frequently collaborated with his father, and their works have often been confused. Increasingly Jacob the Younger was influenced by the great masters in Antwerp, Rubens and van Dyck.
Much of his work remains in the churches and museums of that city.
