Adam Coster

Variant namesauktoriserad namnform: Adam Coster

DatesBiographical dates: 1586 - 1643 dead: dead 1643 born: born 1586

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BiographyBiography: Little is known about this painter. In 1607 he became a master in the Guild of St. Luke in Antwerp. In 1626–1627 he took a Pauwels Telliers as his pupil. It is probable that he visited Italy but there is no documentation about his travelling. He is however recorded in Hamburg in 1635. Since no signed or documented works are known, all attributions stem from a print by Lucas Vorsterman after a lost painting by the artist showing backgammon players and a female lutenist grouped around a table on which two candles are burning. His works are mostly genre pieces with half figures depicted with special light effects. He is often mentioned in connection with the group of Caravaggisti, painters such as Theodor Rombouts, Jan Cossiers, Jacob van Oost the elder and Louis Finson. He painted genre scenes with groups of musicians and individuals playing games and smoking around tables lit by candles. De Coster must have enjoyed a certain status as a painter in Antwerp in the 1620s and 1630s since Anthony van Dyck included his portrait in his “Iconography”. He is mentioned there as a nocturne painter (“Pictor Noctium Mechliniensis”).

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