An Allegory of Winter

Born in Antwerp in 1581, Wolfaert's family moved that year to Dordrecht where by 1603 Artus had become a master. By around 1615 he was back in Antwerp and working as an assistant in the workshop of Otto van Veen, with whom he was now living. Amongst his commissioned altarpieces are the Ascension and the Assumption of the Virgin, St. Paul's, Antwerp, c.1617. However his compositions were usually of life size figures, often half-lengths, such as his Twelve Apostles, the Four Fathers of the Church, or the Four Evangelists, of which there are various versions. His oeuvre was little known until comparatively recently, with some of his work being ascribed to early Rubens, amongst others. Assistants in his workshop included Pieter van Mol and Pieter van Lint, who bear traces of his influence in their own later work.