![Willem Herreyns - Portrait of Artist A](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/52/Willem_Herreyns_-_Portrait_of_Artist_A._C._Lens_-_WGA11383.jpg)
Andries Cornelis Lens or André Corneille Lens (
Antwerp
Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504, , 31 March 1739 –
Brussels
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
, 30 March 1822)
[Andries Lens](_blank)
at the Netherlands Institute for Art History
The Netherlands Institute for Art History or RKD (Dutch: RKD-Nederlands Instituut voor Kunstgeschiedenis), previously Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie (RKD), is located in The Hague and is home to the largest art history center i ...
was a Flemish painter, illustrator, art theoretician and art educator. He is known for his history paintings of biblical and mythological subjects and portraits. Wishing to contribute to the revival of painting in Flanders, he took his inspiration from the classical traditions of the 16th century and drew inspiration from Raphael. He was thus a promoter of
Neoclassicism
Neoclassicism (also spelled Neo-classicism) was a Western cultural movement in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that drew inspiration from the art and culture of classical antiquity. Neoclassicism was ...
in Flemish art. He was a teacher and director of the
Academy of Fine Arts of Antwerp. Lens was court painter to the governor-general of the Austrian Netherlands and settled in Brussels where he married.
[Frans Jozef Peter Van den Branden, ''Geschiedenis der Antwerpsche schilderschool'', Antwerpen, 1883, p. 1223-1230 ] Lens was also a writer and historian who published an illustrated book which discussed the costumes, ornaments and furnishings of the various people in Antiquity and another book setting out his art theories.
[André Corneille Lens, ''Du bon goût, ou, De la beauté de la peinture, considérée dans toutes ses parties'']
A.J.D. de Braecknier, 1811
Life
Andries Cornelis Lens was the son of Corneille Lens and Magdalena Slaets. His father was originally from
Tilff near
Liège
Liège ( , , ; wa, Lîdje ; nl, Luik ; german: Lüttich ) is a major city and municipality of Wallonia and the capital of the Belgian province of Liège.
The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east of Belgium, not far from b ...
, a Walloon city then in the
Prince-Bishopric of Liège
The Prince-Bishopric of Liège or Principality of Liège was an Hochstift, ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire that was situated for the most part in present-day Belgium. It was an Imperial State, Imperial Estate, so the List of ...
. His father was a flower painter and gilder who had moved to Antwerp at a young age. Here he had joined the local
Guild of Saint Luke
The Guild of Saint Luke was the most common name for a city guild for painters and other artists in early modern Europe, especially in the Low Countries. They were named in honor of the Evangelist Luke, the patron saint of artists, who was ide ...
. Corneille Lens became the dean of the Guild but often had conflicts with the Guild.
[
Andries Cornelis Lens started his artistic training with the painter Carel Ykens the Younger. After Ykens died in 1753 he continued his studies with Balthasar Beschey. At the same time Lens studied at the Antwerp Academy where he was a precocious student who obtained several first prizes for ]life drawing
A figure drawing is a drawing of the human form in any of its various shapes and postures using any of the drawing media. The term can also refer to the act of producing such a drawing. The degree of representation may range from highly detailed, ...
, winning the second prize at the age of 15 and the first prize at the age of 17. One of his teachers at the Academy was the engraver Peter Martenasie. Martenasie thought drawing after the Antique and required his students to draw after Greek statues. Lens painted a portrait of Martenasie. Martenasie was influential on Lens' development towards a classicist style.[
]
Lens became a director and teacher at the Antwerp Academy in 1763. To prove his qualifications for this position he gave the Academy in the year of his appointment a composition ''Hercules protects painting from Ignorance and Envy'' (Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp
The Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp (Dutch: ''Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten Antwerpen'', ''KMSKA'') is a museum in Antwerp, Belgium, founded in 1810, that houses a collection of paintings, sculptures and drawings from the fourteenth t ...
).[ The governor-general of the Southern Netherlands ]Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine
Prince Charles Alexander Emanuel of Lorraine (french: Charles Alexandre Emanuel, Prince de Lorraine; german: Karl Alexander von Lothringen und Bar; 12 December 1712 in Lunéville – 4 July 1780 in Tervuren) was a Lorraine-born Austrian general ...
took a liking to the young artist and appointed Lens as his court painter in September 1764. He also gave Lens a stipend which allowed him to go study in Italy. The artist left on 21 October1764 for Italy where he studied for almost four years and copied many of the old Italian masters and in particular, Raphael.[ His brother Jacob (also known as 'Jacques-Joseph') who was seven years his junior accompanied him on his trip to Italy. They spent time in Florence, Rome and Naples.][Henri Hymans, ''André Corneile Lens'' in: Biographie Nationale Belge]
Volume 20, pp. 816 He travelled back to Antwerp via Paris where he was exposed to new currents in art. Upon his return to Antwerp Lens became a promoter of these new ideas.[
Lens tried to introduce reforms at the Antwerp Academy aimed at emphasizing the study after models from the Antique.][ His proposals met with resistance from his fellow directors. Like his father, Lens came into conflict with the Guild of Saint Luke. He regarded the Guild as an obstacle to the development of the artist and pleaded for the liberation of the artist from the guild system which made it a condition to practice art in any city in Flanders that the artist be a member of the local guild.][Karel Davids, Bert De Munck, ''Innovation and Creativity in Late Medieval and Early Modern European Cities'', Routledge, 2014, p. 304] When his young brother Jacob was denied a first prize in a local drawing competition, he took the matter very personally. He sent an anonymous letter to Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine at the court of Brussels pleading for the removal of the Guild's authority over Antwerp's artists and placing that authority in the hands of the Academy, which would determine the fitness of an artist to practise. As a court painter himself, Lens was in fact not subject to the Guild restrictions. He argued that the mixing of the painters with the craftsmen in the Guild was an unnecessary burden on the painters. The Prince sent the anonymous letter on to the Antwerp city government, which in turn sought the advice of the Academy. The Guild opposed any reform to the current system. Lens visited the Prince to plead his case in person. He prevailed in the end and the empress Maria Theresa
Maria Theresa Walburga Amalia Christina (german: Maria Theresia; 13 May 1717 – 29 November 1780) was ruler of the Habsburg dominions from 1740 until her death in 1780, and the only woman to hold the position ''suo jure'' (in her own right). ...
issued on 20 March 1773 an order that liberated the painters, sculptors and engravers from the guild requirements.[ The measure increased the prestige of Lens who obtained various commissions to produce altar pieces.][
Lens remained in function at the Antwerp Academy. In 1776 he published in Liège at the publisher J.F. Bassompierre a French-language book entitled ''Le Costume de Plusieurs Peuples de L'Antiquité; Le Costume ou Essai sur les Habillements et les Usages de Plusieurs Peuples de L'Antiquité, Prouvé par les Monuments'' (The Costume of Various Peoples of Antiquity; The Costume or Essay on the Habits and Usages of Various Peoples of Antiquity, as Evidenced by the Monuments). The book of 412 pages and 51 plates discussed the costumes, ornaments and furnishings of the ancient Egyptians, Greek, Phrygians, Assyrians, Armenians, Hebrews, Romans, Persians as well as other nations. It was illustrated with 160 engravings by his old master Pieter Franciscus Martenasie. After the death of his patron Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine in Brussels on 4 July 1780, Lens moved to Brussels. From here he sent in December 1780 to the Antwerp Academy his letter of resignation. When emperor ]Franz Joseph I of Austria
Franz Joseph I or Francis Joseph I (german: Franz Joseph Karl, hu, Ferenc József Károly, 18 August 1830 – 21 November 1916) was Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary, and the Grand title of the Emperor of Austria, other states of the Habsburg m ...
visited Antwerp on 18 June 1781, Lens was able to arrange an invitation to show the emperor the artworks in the Cathedral of Antwerp. He was then invited by the emperor to join him in his carriage to show him other artistic highlights in Antwerp. Impressed by the artist who was able to discourse with him in fluent French, the emperor invited Lens to follow him to Vienna as a court painter. Lens had to decline as he had to marry Petronella Josepha de Suemoy in Brussels.[
]
In Prince Albert Casimir, Duke of Teschen
Prince Albert Casimir of Saxony, Duke of Teschen (11 July 1738, Moritzburg, Electorate of Saxony – 10 February 1822, Vienna) was a Saxon prince from the House of Wettin who married into the Habsburg imperial family. He was noted as an art ...
, the successor of Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine as governor general of the Austrian Netherlands, Lens found a new patron. The Prince commissioned him to decorate his apartments in the Castle of Laeken near Brussels. These works were later moved to Vienna.[ Lens maintained a correspondence with Swiss Neoclassic painter Julien de Parme, which has been published.
The ]Brabant Revolution
The Brabant Revolution or Brabantine Revolution (french: Révolution brabançonne, nl, Brabantse Omwenteling), sometimes referred to as the Belgian Revolution of 1789–1790 in older writing, was an armed insurrection that occurred in the Aust ...
of 1789 and the later occupation of the Southern Netherlands by the French did not harm the artist. He was elected to the Institut de France
The (; ) is a French learned society, grouping five , including the Académie Française. It was established in 1795 at the direction of the National Convention. Located on the Quai de Conti in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, the institute m ...
, then called the Institut National. It is mainly his 1776 publication on ancient dress and costumes that had bolstered his reputation in a time when Neoclassicism
Neoclassicism (also spelled Neo-classicism) was a Western cultural movement in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that drew inspiration from the art and culture of classical antiquity. Neoclassicism was ...
in art triumphed in France. The French actor François-Joseph Talma
François Joseph Talma (15 January 1763 – 19 October 1826) was a French actor.
Life
He was born in Paris. His father, a dentist, moved to London, and saw that his son received a good English education. François Joseph returned to Paris, whe ...
even visited Lens in Brussels to pay hommage to the artist who had shown him in his book how to drape the Roman togas he wore on stage.[
In 1811 Lens published in Brussels a book under the title ''Du bon goût, ou, De la beauté de la peinture, considérée dans toutes ses parties'' (Of good taste, or, Of the beauty of painting, considered in all its parts). It set out his artistic theories.][ By that time he had ceased painting.][ Lens was in 1803 a co-founder in ]Brussels
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
of the ''Société de peinture, sculpture et architecture de Bruxelles'' (Society of painting, sculpture and architecture of Brussels), a so-called Société d'émulation intended to promote the progress of the arts. The Société d'émulation was composed of both amateurs
An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, self-taught, user-generated, DIY, and hobbyist.
History
...
, artists and art lovers. It held every year an exhibition of contemporary painters. It was thus similar to the ''Kunstmaatschappij'' (Society of Arts) established in Antwerp in 1778.
After 1815 when the Southern Netherlands had become part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Lens became a member of the Koninklijk (Nederlands) Instituut van Wetenschappen, Letterkunde en Schoone Kunsten ( Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences ) and was made a knight of the Belgian lion by King William I of the Netherlands
William I (Willem Frederik, Prince of Orange-Nassau; 24 August 1772 – 12 December 1843) was a Prince of Orange, the King of the Netherlands and Grand Duke of Luxembourg.
He was the son of the last Stadtholder of the Dutch Republic, who we ...
.[
Lens died on 30 March 1822 in Brussels.][
His pupils included Jean-Pierre Borrekens, Cornelis Cels, Pierre Joseph Célestin François and Jacob van Strij.][Lens, André Corneille]
at Arts Graphiques
Work
Andries Cornelis Lens was a painter whose main subject matter were scenes from the bible and Antique mythology. He was an early representative of Neoclassicism in Belgian painting. His version of Neoclassicism is very personal and influenced by Flemish painting traditions.[
While his work was not appreciated by his contemporary Flemish artists, he was successful in his time and had various important patrons. However, he did not establish his own school and his reputation has not survived as well as it might.]
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Lens, Andries Cornelis
Flemish history painters
Flemish portrait painters
Artists from Antwerp
19th-century Belgian painters
19th-century Belgian male artists
1739 births
1822 deaths
Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences