Born: 1582
Birthplace: Antwerp, Belgium
Died: 29-Jul-1649
Location of death: Antwerp, Belgium
Cause of death: unspecified

Gender: Male
Race or Ethnicity: White
Occupation: Painter

Nationality: Netherlands
Executive summary: Flemish genre painter

David Teniers, the Elder, was born at Antwerp. Having received his first training in the painter's art from his brother Juliaen, he studied under Peter Paul Rubens in Antwerp, and subsequently under Elsheimer in Rome; he became a member of the Antwerp guild of painters in 1606. Though his ambition led him at times to try his skill in large religious, historical and mythological compositions, his claim to fame depends chiefly on his landscapes and paintings of peasants carousing, of kermesse scenes and the like, which are marked by a healthy sense of humor, and which are not infrequently confused with the early works of his son David. There is a large painting by the elder Teniers at St. Paul's church in Antwerp, representing the "Works of Charity." At the Vienna Gallery are four landscapes painted by Teniers under the influence of Elsheimer, and four small mythological subjects, among them "Vertumnus and Pomona," and "Juno, Jupiter and Io." The National Gallery has a characteristic scene of village life, "Playing at Bowls", a "Conversation" of three men and a woman, and a large "Rocky Landscape." Other examples of his work are to be found at the galleries of St. Petersburg, Madrid, Brussels, Munich, Dresden and Berlin ("The Temptation of St. Anthony"). Teniers also achieved success as a picture dealer, and is known to have attended the fair of St. Germain in Paris in 1635, with a large number of paintings by himself and by his four sons. He died at Antwerp in 1649.

Brother: Juliaen Teniers (painter)
Son: David Teniers the Younger (painter, b. 1610)

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