Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria in his Gallery

Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria stands amid his extraordinary painting collection in this 1651 gallery picture at the Royal Museums in Brussels. As Governor of the Spanish Netherlands, the Archduke assembled one of the finest art collections in Europe, particularly rich in Venetian and Flemish paintings. Teniers served as the Archduke's court painter and keeper of his collection, producing multiple versions of these "gallery pictures" that documented the holdings.

The gallery picture format requires Teniers to render recognizable miniature versions of dozens of paintings within the larger composition — a technical tour de force that demonstrates both his own skill and his intimate familiarity with the Archduke's collection. Each painting within the painting is carefully rendered to be identifiable.