![David Teniers the Younger - Archduke Leopold Wilhelm in his Gallery in Brussels [1650-52]](http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3940/15473615637_5577821d3b_o.jpg)
Among the elements often found in views of picture galleries are the paintings propped up in the foreground and the opening of the perspective to the rear, sometimes through a door or, as here, through large windows. Early examples of this type sometimes feature Christian didactic content, conveyed by a selection of pictures depicted in miniature; the portraits of Leopold Wilhelm’s gallery (nine in all), however, serve a purely ostentatious purpose. The one now in Vienna was sent to Prague by the brother of its owner, Emperor Ferdinand III, as evidence of the wealth of the archduke’s picture gallery. Most of the 51 Italian works shown in this painting are today in the Kunsthistorisches Museum.
[Kunsthistorishes Museum, Vienna - Oil on canvas, 163 x 123 cm]