THEODOOR, an eminent Flemish painter, was born at Antwerp in 1597, and studied first under Abraham Janssens, and then at Rome. His ready invention, correct design, animated expression, and brilliancy of colour, gained for him valuable patronage wherever he went. A nobleman at Rome gave him a commission for twelve pictures from the Old Testament. The Grand Duke of Tuscany employed him to embellish the palace at Florence. The citizens of Antwerp on his return hired him to paint pieces for their churches. His talent, in fact, was so much flattered that he actually entered into competition with the great Peter Paul Rubens, who was then in the full blaze of his fame. Theodore Rombouts, however, died in 1640, before he had convinced the age that he was at all equal to his competitor. One of the best known of his pictures is "The Taking Down from the Cross," in the cathedral at Ghent.