Carel van FalensName variations: Karel van Falens, Carel van Falens, Charles van Falens, Carel van Valens, Carel Vanfalens, Carel van Vales, Carel Vanderfaes, Carel Van Falen, Carel Van Faelens, Carel van der Faes, Carel Van Valens (baptized in Antwerp on 24 November 1683 – Paris, 26 May 1733) was a Flemish painter, draughtsman, copyist, art restorer, art dealer and copyist. He specialised in scenes of hunters and cavalry encampments in the popular style of the Dutch battle and horse painter

Philips Wouwerman Philips Wouwerman (also Wouwermans) (24 May 1619 (baptized) – 19 May 1668) was a Dutch painter of hunting, landscape and battle scenes. Life and work Philips Wouwerman was one of the most versatile and prolific artists of the Dutch Golden ...

.Carel van Falens
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 worked most of his life in France where he was a painter to the court and a member of the

Académie royale An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary education, secondary or tertiary education, tertiary higher education, higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membershi ...

.Frans Jozef Peter Van den Branden, ''Geschiedenis der Antwerpsche schilderschool'', Antwerpen, 1883, p. 1209-980

Life

Van Falens 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,

as the son of Jan Baptist and Maria Anna de Kegel. His father was a captain of the local civil militia. In the guild year 1696-1697 he was registered in the Antwerp

Guild of St. 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 Four Evangelists, Evangelist Saint Luke, Luke, the patron sa ...

as a pupil of

Constantijn Francken Constantijn Francken or Konstantijn FranckenFrans Jozef Peter Van den Branden, ''Geschiedenis der Antwerpsche schilderschool'', Antwerpen, 1883, p. 978-980 Name variations: Constantinus Francken, Constantyn Francken, Constantin Francken, Constanty ...

. Constantijn Francken was a successful battle and portrait painter who had been court painter to the king of France.Ph. Rombouts and Th. van Lerius, ''De Liggeren en andere Historische Archieven der Antwerpsche Sint Lucasgilde, onder Zinkspreuk: "Wy Jonsten Versaemt" afgeschreven en bemerkt door Ph. Rombouts en Th. Van Lerius, Advokaet, onder de bescherming van den raed van bestuer der koninklyke Akademie van beeldende Kunsten, van gezegde Stad''
Volume 2, Antwerp, 1872, pp. 590, 596, 590 Van Falens did not join the Antwerp guild but moved in 1703 to Paris, where - unlike his master Francken who had done the same in young age - he stayed for the rest of his life. In Paris, he initially worked as an art restorer. Later he made a living by making copies of the work of Nicolaes van Berchem and Wouwerman. Carel van Falens -- Gathering of Hunters

Carel van Falens -- Gathering of Hunters

On 16 July 1716 he got married in the St Thomas Church in Paris with Maria Francisca (Marie-Françoise) Slodtz, the 18-year old daughter of the Antwerp sculptor Sebastiaen {Sébastien) Slodtz who had moved to Paris where he was sculptor of the royal buildings. The couple was allowed to live in the Louvre at the expense of the state. They had 10 children. During the Regency, the Duke d’Orléans commissioned van Falens to restore some of his paintings. After the Duke's death he was named Peintre ordinaire du roi to king

Louis XV Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (french: le Bien-Aimé), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reache ...

in 1724. He was accepted into the

in 1726. The work that he submitted for entrance into the Académie was a hunting scene, which was later hung by the académiciens in the position of honour in their meeting room (Salle d’assemblée). This shows that he was held in high esteem by his peers.Carel van Falens, ''A riding party taking refreshments in a river landscape''
at Dorotheum He died 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 ...

on 26 May 1733 in his apartment in the Louvre, at the age of 49. He was buried on 27 May by his three brothers-in-law Sébastien Antoine, Jean-Baptiste and Paul Ambroise Slodtz.

Work

He specialised in scenes of hunters and cavalry encampments. He left a number of works that were fully signed as C.van Falens or signed with his monogram CVF. Many of his compositions base their harmony, pictorial details, vivid and vibrant colours, and texture on the works of the Dutch battle and horse painter

. It is believed that because of the similarity in style, works of van Falens have been attributed to Wouwerman while many similar scenes by less talented imitators may have been given to van Falens.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Falens, Carel van 1683 births 1733 deaths 18th-century Flemish painters Flemish Baroque painters Flemish landscape painters Painters from Antwerp Flemish art dealers 18th-century war artists 17th-century war artists Flemish war artists Court painters