Seghers, Daniel

Son of a silk merchant, he emigrated early on with his family to the Northern Netherlands, where he converted to Calvinism. He started studying painting 1605, and upon returning to Antwerp in 1611, he entered the Guild of San Lucas after a period of apprenticeship with Jan Brueghel de Velours. In 1614, he re-embraced the Catholic faith and entered the Jesuits in Mechelen as a layman. Afterwards, he took vows in 1625. From then onwards, he signed himself as ‘Daniel Seghers Societatis Jesu’. From 1625 to 1627, he lived in Rome, and when he returned to Antwerp, he remained in his monastery as a flower painter until the day he died. It is difficult to establish the evolution of his style, although a development from simpler to more complicated garlands is more than evident. The depiction of Dutch flowers and plants grown in gardens connects him with painters such as Jan Brueghel, although unlike the latter, he pays less attention to contours and more to transparencies and the combination of light and shade. His floral arrangements always indicate prior preparation, whilst his garlands demonstrate a brilliant employment of symmetry as a clarifying element of the composition. Typical of his production are the garlands that surround devotional images based on the work of Rubens. The Museo del Prado houses various examples of these garlands with figures created by other painters who collaborated with him, including Thomas Willeboirts Bosschaert, Cornelis Schut, González Coques and Domenichino. Sometimes the religious image was substituted for figures or mythological scenes, as exemplified by Garland of Flowers (Museum Boijmans van Beuningen in Rotterdam). There are also garlands with individual portraits, such as in that of Leopold Wilhelm (Galleria degli Uffizi in Florence). The detailed depiction of the flowers must be related to Jesuit Counter-Reformation iconography. The devotional nature of the image was emphasised by the meticulous observation of the flowers and plants, which was interpreted by Jesuit theologians as a stimulus for religious contemplation. The intellectual aspect of his flower garlands brought him into contact with men of letters, especially with poets such as Joost van de Vondel, who praised his work on various occasions. Similarly, numerous European princes received gifts from the Jesuits or commissioned their own works, which ensured the success of Seghers’s work. Notable among these collectors are Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange; Christina, Queen of Sweden; and Charles I of England (Pérez Preciado, J. J., in: Enciclopedia Museo del Prado, 2006).