Interior of a Collector's Gallery of Paintings and Objets d'Art

In Antwerp in the 1630s, a rich collector was proud of a room where paintings hung beside shells, porcelain and globes. Along the tall windows a table is crowded with shells, blue-and-white bowls, a globe and a small statue, while pictures climb the walls up to the carved ceiling. A well-dressed couple with a young companion and a greyhound have stopped in front of a large canvas on an easel, a sea triumph with a god holding a trident and nymphs riding the waves, and the man points toward it. A painting of a red parrot leans against the table, and a little monkey crouches in the bottom corner. Cornelis de Baellieur signed the panel in 1637, and he painted it together with Hans Jordaens III. Through a doorway on the right, more visitors are looking at pictures in the next room.