Balthasar Paul Ommeganck (sometimes also: Paul Balthasar Ommeganck) (1755–1826) was a Flemish painter of

landscapes A landscape is the visible features of an area of Terrestrial ecoregion, land, its landforms, and how they integrate with Nature, natural or man-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionar ...

and

animals Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the biological kingdom Animalia. With few exceptions, animals consume organic material, breathe oxygen, are able to move, can reproduce sexually, and go through an ontogenetic stage in ...

active in Antwerp. Through his work and his role as an art teacher and founder of art institutions he gave an important impetus to the revitalization of landscape painting in the Low Countries.Dominique Vautier. "Ommeganck, Balthasar-Paul." Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. Web. 4 December 2014

Life

He was born in

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,

in 1755 as the fourth child of Paulus Ommeganck and Barbara Laenen. He was registered in the Antwerp

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 ...

as a pupil of the respected painter Hendricus Josephus Antonissen from 1767. At the same time he also attended classes at the

Antwerp Academy The Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp ( nl, Koninklijke Academie voor Schone Kunsten van Antwerpen) is an art academy located in Antwerp, Belgium. It is one of the oldest of its kind in Europe. It was founded in 1663 by David Teniers the Younger, ...

where he obtained a second prize for drawing after the Antique in March 1771. He specialized in landscapes and the rendering of the coat of animals in particular of sheep.Catalogue du Musée d'Anvers, Second Edition, 1857, pp. 463–469 Balthasar Paul Ommeganck - Landscape with figures

Balthasar Paul Ommeganck - Landscape with figures

On 26 June 1781 he married Petronilla Isabella Maria Jacoba Parrin in Antwerp. They had two sons and seven daughters, one of which was the animal painter Johanna Maria Ommeganck.Balthasar Paul Ommeganck
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 ...

He was one of the founders in 1788 of a society of artists known as the ''Konstmaatschappij'' (the 'Art Society'). Other founders included

Hendrik Frans de Cort Hendrik de Cort or Hendrik Frans de Cort (1742 in Antwerp – 28 June 1810 in London) was a Flemish landscape painter and draughtsman. His international career brought him to Antwerp, Paris, England and Wales. He is mainly remembered for his to ...

Pieter Faes Pieter Faes or Peeter Faes (14 July 1750 – 22 December 1814) was a Flemish painter of still lifes of flowers and fruit. He worked in a decorative style close to that of Jan van Huysum.Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.), Walter A. Li ...

, Willem Schaeken, Antoon Herry, Jan Josef Horemans the Younger, Bartholomeus Jan van Hulst, Jan Baptist Beguinet,

Hendrik Aarnout Myin Hendrik may refer to: * Hendrik (given name) * Hans Hendrik, Greenlandic Arctic traveller and interpreter * Hendrik Island, an island in Greenland * Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht, a municipality in the Netherlands * A character from '' Dragon Quest XI'' ...

, Hendrik Blomaert, Frans Balthasar Solvyns, Ignatius Jozef van den Berghe, Godfried Frans Bex and the amateur A. Renodi.Frans Jozef Peter Van den Branden, ''Geschiedenis der Antwerpsche schilderschool'', Antwerpen, 1883, pp. 1243–1262 The first exhibition of the society was held in Antwerp in 1789. Ommeganck contributed 4 works to this first exhibition.Reginald Howard Wilenski, ''Flemish Painters: 1430-1830'', Viking Press, 1960, p. 418 Artists who would later join included

Mattheus Ignatius van Bree Mattheus Ignatius van Bree (Antwerp, 1773 – Antwerp, 1839) was a Belgian painter. He was one of the founders of the historical school of painting in Belgium and played an important role as a teacher in the development of 19th-century Belgian a ...

Maria Jacoba Ommeganck Maria Jacoba Ommeganck (1760 – 16 December 1849) was a Flemish neoclassicistic animal painter, specializing in pictures with cattle. Ommeganck was born in Antwerp in 1760 and baptized on 14 August of that year. She was a daughter of Paul and ...

Marten Waefelaerts Marten Waefelaerts (1748 - 1799) was a Flemish 18th century landscape painter. He was probably born in Antwerp, but little is known about his early years. He worked in the years 1790–1800. In 1792, he exhibited three landscapes in Ghent. In 179 ...

and many others. In 1789 he became dean of the Guild of St. Luke of Antwerp, the penultimate dean as the Guild was dissolved by the French occupiers in 1794. In 1796 he was appointed professor at the Antwerp ''Académie de peinture, sculpture et architecture d'Anvers''. In 1799 a painting of Ommeganck won the first prize for landscapes in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. Ommeganck had not wished to participate in the Paris competition but the painting was submitted by a friend without his knowledge. In 1809 he became a corresponding member of 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 ...

, which had been established on 25 October 1795 to group France's five ''académies''. He was also a member of the Academies of

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

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 ...

Ghent Ghent ( nl, Gent ; french: Gand ; traditional English: Gaunt) is a city and a municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the East Flanders province, and the third largest in the country, exceeded in ...

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

and

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. In 1800 he was invited to become together with

Willem Jacob Herreyns Willem Jacob HerreynsName variations: Guillaume Jacques Herreyns, Willem Jacob Herreijns, Willem Jacob Herrijns, Willem Jacob Herryns, Guillaume Jacques Herreijns (Antwerp, 10 June 1743 – Antwerp, 10 August 1827) was a Flemish painter of histor ...

a teacher of the members of the newly established ''Genootschap der Kunsten'' ((Society for the arts')). This was an organisation set up at the initiative of

and included initially Jan van Bree,

Jean-Baptiste Berré Jean-Baptiste Berré or Jan Baptist Berré Antwerp, 11 February 1777 – Paris, 6 May 1839) was a Flemish painter and sculptor.Royal Institute of the Netherlands. His students included

Jan Baptiste de Jonghe Jan Baptiste de Jonghe or Jean-Baptiste de Jonghe (Kortrijk, 8 January 1785 – Schaerbeek, 14 October 1844) was a Belgian painter, draughtsman, etcher and lithographer. He is known for his Romantic landscapes with people, herds and ruins.

, Frédéric Théodore Faber,

Pieter Martinus Gregoor Pieter is a male given name, the Dutch form of Peter. The name has been one of the most common names in the Netherlands for centuries, but since the mid-twentieth century its popularity has dropped steadily, from almost 3000 per year in 1947 to ...

, Jacob van Kouwenhoven, Hendrik Aarnout Myin,

Ignatius Josephus van Regemorter Ignatius Josephus van Regemorter was a Flanders, Flemish history painting, historical, landscape painting, landscape, and genre painting, genre painter and engraving, engraver, born at Antwerp in 1785. He studied under his father, Petrus Johannes ...

, Adrianus de Visser, Eugène Joseph Verboeckhoven, Julien-Joseph Ducorron and his sister Maria Jacoba Ommeganck. He died in Antwerp.

Work

Ommeganck was very successful during his lifetime and his works demanded high prices. His main contribution to landscape painting was the combination in his works of the light found in the work of the Dutch Italianate painters of the 17th century with detailed observation of nature. He was thus able to find a synthesis between realism and an idealized representation of nature. His work shows a painstaking attention to detail, a sure line and subtle use of colour. His preferred subjects were undulating landscapes. He painted mainly on panel. Ommeganck renewed the Belgian landscape tradition through his careful observation of the local picturesque landscape. This he combined with an interest in representing atmospheric conditions and the warm light of the rising or setting sun. The concept of the ideal landscape influenced the compositions of his works. This preoccupation was linked to a more direct curiosity for the landscape, which led him towards a topographical and descriptive representation of the landscape.Caroline van Eck, ''Het schilderachtige: studies over het schilderachtige in de Nederlandse kunsttheorie en architectuur, 1650-1900'', Architectura & Natura Pers, 1994, p. 93 Ommeganck's style was widely followed in the 18th and early 19th century. Later art critics have not always been equally positive about the work of Ommeganck. Some have made the reproach that by embedding itself in the classic tradition and through its preference for the contrived, picturesque and the conventional, the landscape tradition of Ommeganck represents a 'hopeless traditionalism'.Lut Pil, ''Pour le plaisir des yeux: het pittoreske landschap in de Belgische kunst : 19de-eeuwse retoriek en beeldvorming'', Garant, 1 Jan 1993, p.1-2 He also made a few portraits such as that of the Painter Jean-Baptiste Berré (

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 ...

). He was a skilled draughtsman and also worked as a sculptor producing some clay models of sheep and cows.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ommeganck, Balthasar Paul Flemish landscape painters Flemish portrait painters Academic staff of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts (Antwerp) Painters from Antwerp Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences 18th-century Flemish painters 19th-century Flemish painters 1755 births 1826 deaths