Gaspar de Crayer is a Flemish artist born in Antwerp, who has lived and worked for most of his life in Brussels.
He comes from a family of artist, his father Gaspar de Crayer. The old de Crayer was also a painter and art dealer.
Even when he was very young, Gaspar de Crayer moved to the capital of Southern Netherlands, Brussels, where he received his first training and education as an artist under the guidance of Raphael Coxie, a courtier artist of the Spanish rulers of that part of Netherlands at that time.
In Brussels, Gaspar de Crayer also received his masterful title as an artist and member of the urban guild "Saint Luca".
He has mainly portraits of high-ranking figures of rulers, as well as church decorations in the style of Counter-Reformation. His style and technique followed that of Paul Paul Rubens, and he, without to be a Rubens' epigone, helped a lot to impose his Baroque style as modern in Europe at the time.
Gaspar de Crayer has held high positions in the City Council of Brussels and has been one of the influential and wealthy citizens, having been the head of the art guild in the city for a period of five years.
Having acquired a high social status in Brussels, de Crayer never broke his relationship with his native Antwerp, where he held numerous friendships, one of the most valuable for him was with art dealer Matthijs Musson, providing clients for his paintings almost all the time during his career.