Justus Sustermans

Portrait of Galileo Galilei by Justus Sustermans.

Justus Sustermans (also known as Giusto Sustermans) was a Flemish painter in the Baroque style. He was born in Antwerp in 1597, and died in Florence in 1681.

He is chiefly notable for his portraits of members of the Medici family whose court painter he was. His work can be found in both the Palatina Gallery and the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, and in many other galleries around the globe. During his lifetime he was fêted as the finest portrait painter in Italy.

He studied early on in Flanders and Antwerp, possibly with artists such as Villem de Vos, a nephew of the painter Marten de Vos and also Frans Pourbus the younger. He was eventually invited to Florence under the patronage of the Medici Family where he studied Italian portraitists such as Il Guercino, the Spanish Diego Velázquez and France’s Pierre Mignard. Here in Italy he also became influenced by the Venetian artists.

See also

• Flemish painting

Selected Works

• Portrait of a Lady, Oil on canvas, (Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena)
• Portrait of a Lady Wearing Pearls , Oil on Canvas, (Odessa Museum of Western and Eastern Art, Ukraine)[1]
• Portrait of the Grand Duke Ferdinand II of Tuscany and his Wife Vittoria della Rovere, Oil on Canvas, (National Gallery, London)
• The Senators of Florence swearing Allegiance to Ferdinando II de’Medici, Oil on Canvas, (Ashmolean, Oxford)
• Portrait of Cardinale Carlo de' Medici, Oil on canvas, (Museo Poldi Pezzoli, Milan)
• Vincenzo II Gonzaga, Ruler of Mantua from 1587-1612, Wearing a Cloak of the Order of the Redemeer, Oil on canvas,
• Portrait of Galileo Galilei, (Shown right) Oil on canvas, (National Maritime Museum, Greenwich)
• Portrait of Galileo, Oil on canvas, (Uffizi Gallery, Florence)