Peter Thijs (1624-1677)

• Pieter Thijs, Peter Thijs or Pieter Thys was a Flemish painter.
• Thijs was born in Antwerp.
• Pieter Thijs was born in a modest family as the son of a baker.
• He trained with Artus Deurwerdeers as a cabinet painter.
• Also he practiced in the workshop of Frans Francken the Younger, the father-in-law of Deurwerdeers.
• He also spent time in the workshop of Anthony van Dyck.
• Everything suggests he completed his training with Gonzales Coques, a leading painter of portraits and history paintings.
• After leaving Coques' workshop Thijs maintained a busy workshop that employed about twenty apprentices in the course of his career.
• Thijs enjoyed royal patronage.
• From 1647 onwards, he became a portrait painter as well as a tapestry designer for Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria, then the Governor of the Southern Netherlands.
• Thijs married Constantia van der Beken on 19 March 1648.
• The couple had six daughters and four sons.
• His son Pieter Pauwel Thijs followed in his footsteps as an artist but died young.
• He served as deacon and treasurer of the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke.
• Thijs trained his son Pieter Pauwel and was the teacher of Jan Fransicus Lauwereyssens.
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