Among the three most renowned Flemish Baroque painters--Rubens, Van Dyck and Joardens--Jacques Joardens (1593-1678), also known as Jacob Jordaens, is undoubtedly the least studied. Yet the image of Joardens as a poor man's Rubens obscures the better part of his varied oeuvre. This book elucidates the more erudite side of Joardens' production by zeroing in on a single theme, -The Allegory of Fertility, - principal versions of which are held in the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium in Brussels and the Wallace Collection in London. It examines these canvases, exploring the relationship...