Christoffel Jacobsz. van der Laemen (Flemish, 1607-c. 1651)
Christoffel Jacobsz van der Laemen or Christoffel van der Laemen was a Flemish painter who specialized in merry company scenes with elegant figures. His favorite themes were card and backgammon players, brothel scenes, the prodigal son, dancing, music making and scenes of food and drink set in elegant rooms, inns and gardens.
Christoffel Jacobsz van der Laemen was the son of Jacob van der Laemen and Anna Dirkx (or possibly Anna Lemmens). His place of birth is not known with certainty and Brussels and Antwerp have been proposed as his place of birth.
Brussels has been proposed as a possible birthplace because his father who was a painter and art dealer from Antwerp worked in Brussels between1613 and 1620. It is, on the other hand, possible that he was born in Antwerp but that the record of his baptism is lost since the records of the Saint Andrew Church of Antwerp for the period in which he was likely born (some time between 21 August 1606 and 29 March 1607) no longer exist. His birth date is broadly placed between c. 1606 and c. 1615. He trained with his father.
He was registered as a wine-master (i.e. son of a master) at the Antwerp Guild of St. Luke in the guild year in 1636/37. The next year he already received Hieronymus Janssens as his pupil
When he married Maria Michielsen in 1642, the painters Paul Rijckaert and Adriaen Michielsen were witnesses. The van der Laemen couple had six children. The artist must have died between 22 September 1651 and 17 September 1652 as he was recorded present at his daughter's baptism on the first date and his death duties to the Guild were paid before the latter date.