Which Flemish Baroque painter taught Anthony van Dyck?

Peter Paul Rubens taught Anthony van Dyck. The young Flemish painter became a leading assistant in Rubens’s Antwerp workshop, where he absorbed his master’s dynamic compositions, rich color, muscular figures, and Italian-influenced Baroque style.

Van Dyck had already trained under Hendrick van Balen and became a master in Antwerp’s Guild of Saint Luke in 1617. His exact start date with Rubens is uncertain, but by 1620 he was identified as one of the studio’s disciples. Rubens reportedly called the nineteen-year-old van Dyck “the best of my pupils.”

A common mix-up is confusing Rubens’s workshop collaborators with his pupils. Frans Snyders and Jan Brueghel the Elder worked with Rubens on specialized elements and collaborative paintings, while Jacob Jordaens was a major contemporary Antwerp painter. Van Dyck later developed an independent career, becoming famous for portraits and serving as court painter to Charles I of England.