Willem van HERP (geb. Antwerpen 1614 - overl. Antwerpen 1677) "Passanten en dorpelingen bij belastinginner" Olieverf op doek/paneel, afm. 72 x 105 cm. Willem van HERP (geb. Antwerpen 1614 - gest. Antwerpen 1677) "Passanten und Dorfbewohner beim Steuereintreiber" Öl auf Leinwand/Holz, 72 x 105 cm. HERP, Willem van (born Antwerp 1614 - died Antwerp 1677) "Passers-by and villagers at a tax office" Oil on marouflaged panel, size 72 by 105 cm. Provenance: S. Hartveld, Antwerp, 1928. Mrs.I.L.Alewijn, née van Limburg Stirum, The Hague. Sale; Van Marle & Bignell The Hague, 28 February 1939, lot 14, with ill. Willem van Herp was a Flemish Baroque painter specializing in small cabinet paintings of "low-life" genre scenes and religious paintings. Willem van was long thought to have been a student of Peter Paul Rubens, and although he was not a student he did borrow many of that master's motifs and touched up copies after that painter for the art dealer Matthijs Musson. He is listed as an independent master in the Guild of St. Luke beginning in 1637. Although only moderately successful in Antwerp, as suggested by the infrequent occurrence of his paintings in local inventories, many of his small works were probably intended as export items destined to Spain. Most of these were on copper, a material for painting that was highly prized both for durability and its glossy finish in Spain. Van Herp's works, in particular, were also influential in spreading copper painting in Mexico by way of trade from Spain to Latin America, and reflect a taste for small paintings reminiscent of Rubens's style abroad. He also became well-known in England through engravings after his works.