Gillis van Tilborgh

In 1666 Gillis van Tilborgh was put in charge of the paintings at Tervuren, a castle outside Brussels used by the governors of the Spanish Netherlands. The post had a history. His probable teacher, David Teniers the Younger, had looked after the celebrated collection of an earlier governor, Archduke Leopold Wilhelm, and had painted views of its galleries hung wall to wall with pictures.

Tilborgh was trained first by his father, a painter of the same name, joined the Brussels painters' guild in 1654 and served as its dean in 1663. He painted tavern scenes in the manner of Teniers, and his speciality was the group portrait, whole families posed together in their rooms. He also travelled to England to paint groups there. He was born in Brussels around 1625 and died there around 1678, though neither year is documented exactly.