Jacob, a celebrated Flemish painter, was born at Antwerp in 1594. He studied under Adam van Oort, but his real master in the art of painting was his fellow-student Rubens. His marriage, at a very early age, with Van Oort's daughter prevented him from visiting Italy as he had intended; but the master-pieces of Titian, Paul Veronese, Caravaggio, and others, then to be seen in the Flemish galleries, gave him a perfect knowledge of the Italian schools without quitting his native country. Many of these chefs d'œuvre were copied by him with such force and beauty that Rubens entrusted him with the execution, on a large scale, of many of his small sketches. These were afterwards touched up by the great master, and many of them now pass under his name. In many respects Jordaens's pieces bear a great resemblance to those of his friend; and it is believed that, after Rubens, he is the greatest painter in that style of the Flemish school. There is in both the same abundance of ideas, the same knowledge of chiaroscuro, the same warmth of colouring, truth to nature, and energy of expression; but Jordaens wants the dignity of thought, and is inferior in the choice of forms, the character of his heads, and correctness of drawing. His taste is also not unfrequently defective. Jordaens painted with great rapidity, and, as he lived to a great old age, his works are very numerous. Many of his pieces are preserved in the churches of the Netherlands; and the public galleries of Saxony, France, Sweden, and England, and some of the private collections in the last-named country, contain admirable specimens. Jordaens died at Antwerp in 1678, in his eighty-fifth year. Dr Wangen, in his Art Treasures of Great Britain, criticises many of Jordaens' pieces, which he found in all the best private collections in England.