![FrançoisMusin001](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/45/Fran%C3%A7oisMusin001.jpg)
François-Etienne Musin (4 October 1820,
Ostend
Ostend ( nl, Oostende, ; french: link=no, Ostende ; german: link=no, Ostende ; vls, Ostende) is a coastal city and municipality, located in the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It comprises the boroughs of Mariakerk ...
- 24 October 1888,
Saint-Josse-ten-Noode
Saint-Josse-ten-Noode () or Sint-Joost-ten-Node (), often simply called Saint-Josse or Sint-Joost, is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the north-eastern part of the region, it is bordered by the Ci ...
) was a Belgian painter who specialized in
seascape
A seascape is a photograph, painting, or other work of art which depicts the sea, in other words an example of marine art. The word originated as a formation from landscape, which was first used of images of land in art. By a similar devel ...
s and scenes of coastal landscapes, rivers and harbours.
[François-Etienne Musin]
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 ...
Life
Musin's father was an innkeeper, shipbuilder and oyster farmer who had spent some time in a penal regiment for desertion during the
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...
. As a child, he paid more attention to the sea than his studies. His artistic talent was discovered when he was locked in the attic as punishment and used a piece of charcoal to draw a view of the Ostend docks on the wall.
In 1831, he received his first lessons from
Michel Van Cuyck and
François-Antoine Bossuet, who would later become famous for his
vedute
A ''veduta'' (Italian for "view"; plural ''vedute'') is a highly detailed, usually large-scale painting or, more often, print of a cityscape or some other vista. The painters of ''vedute'' are referred to as ''vedutisti''.
Origins
This genre ...
, but was still working for the Port of Ostend at that time. He later attended the local Beaux Arts Academy and graduated after winning a gold medal in 1835. By this time he had already gained some dangerous experience with ships and sailing while tending to his father's oyster beds.
![François Musin001](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8e/Fran%C3%A7ois_Musin001.jpg)
He continued his studies at the
Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts
The Royal Academy of Fine Arts of Brussels (french: Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts - École supérieure des Arts de la Ville de Bruxelles (ARBA-ESA), nl, Koninklijke Academie voor Schone Kunsten van Brussel), is an art school established in Br ...
in Brussels, where he studied under
François-Joseph Navez
François-Joseph Navez (16 November 1787 – 12 October 1869) was a Belgian neo-classical painter.
Biography
Navez was born in Charleroi. He was a pupil of Jacques-Louis David. He spent five years in Italy between 1817 and 1822. Between 1835 ...
. While there, he made drawings of surgical procedures in the operating room of Doctor
Louis-Joseph Seutin
Louis Joseph Seutin (18 October 1793 – 29 January 1862) was a Belgium, Belgian Physician, doctor, surgery, surgeon and professor at the Université Libre de Bruxelles.
Louis Joseph Ghislain Seutin born in Nivelles, he studied medicine and took ...
, with the intention of publishing them in a textbook. In 1839, he was drafted in the Army, but his father paid for a replacement (a common practice at the time). In 1840, he began to exhibit and moved to Brussels permanently in 1842, completing his studies the following year. His career was substantially advanced when King
Leopold I bought two of his paintings in 1845.
Business affairs
Because of the interest for his art that existed in England, Musin spent some time there, also travelling to Spain and Portugal. He returned home in 1848 when his father fell ill. In 1849, he married the painter Marie-Célestine Gosselin (1826-1853). After his wife's early death, he gave his share of the family business to his brother Auguste, in return for studio and exhibition space in the family's restaurant. He had also acquired some public land where he built the "Pavilion des Dunes", the first structure on the beach, which he rented out and also occasionally used as a studio. In 1863, Leopold I built his Royal Pavilions nearby, which inspired a real-estate boom and, in 1865, Musin converted the Pavilion into a hotel. It was sold in 1877, demolished in 1879 and replaced by the "Splendid Hotel" which was destroyed in World War II.
During these years, Musin travelled extensively, visiting Portugal, the Alps, France, North America and Norway, where he may have participated in a
whaling
Whaling is the process of hunting of whales for their usable products such as meat and blubber, which can be turned into a type of oil that became increasingly important in the Industrial Revolution.
It was practiced as an organized industry ...
expedition. All of these travels produced reams of sketches that were elaborated on in his studio. In 1869, he finally settled in Saint-Josse-ten-Noode where he built a huge garden studio, collected maritime antiques and gave his son Auguste his first art lessons. His sister-in-law lived with them as housekeeper until her death in 1877.
Patrons and whales
Ever since Kaiser
Wilhelm I
William I or Wilhelm I (german: Wilhelm Friedrich Ludwig; 22 March 1797 – 9 March 1888) was King of Prussia from 2 January 1861 and German Emperor from 18 January 1871 until his death in 1888. A member of the House of Hohenzollern, he was the f ...
ordered eight seascapes in 1853, royal customers had been a major source of his income. In 1865, two paintings were bought by the royal family of
Württemberg
Württemberg ( ; ) is a historical German territory roughly corresponding to the cultural and linguistic region of Swabia. The main town of the region is Stuttgart.
Together with Baden and Hohenzollern, two other historical territories, Würt ...
and, in 1873, two were acquired by
Naser al-Din Shah Qajar
Naser al-Din Shah Qajar ( fa, ناصرالدینشاه قاجار; 16 July 1831 – 1 May 1896) was the fourth Shah of Qajar Iran from 5 September 1848 to 1 May 1896 when he was assassinated. He was the son of Mohammad Shah Qajar and Malek ...
. In 1869, the
Museo del Prado
The Prado Museum ( ; ), officially known as Museo Nacional del Prado, is the main Spanish national art museum, located in central Madrid. It is widely considered to house one of the world's finest collections of European art, dating from the ...
bought his painting "The Cannon Shot - Signal for the Revolt of Cadíz", and he was awarded the
Order of Charles III
The Royal and Distinguished Spanish Order of Charles III, originally Royal and Much Distinguished Order of Charles III ( es, Real y Distinguida Orden Española de Carlos III, originally es, Real y Muy Distinguida Orden de Carlos III) was establ ...
. Curiously though, the Belgian government did not buy any of his works until 1880.
In 1885, a whale carcass washed ashore at
Ostend
Ostend ( nl, Oostende, ; french: link=no, Ostende ; german: link=no, Ostende ; vls, Ostende) is a coastal city and municipality, located in the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It comprises the boroughs of Mariakerk ...
and became quite a sensation. Musin painted a
pochade
A pochade (from French ''poche'', pocket) is a type of sketch used in painting. As opposed to a croquis, which is line art, a pochade captures the colors and atmosphere of a scene.
Generally, pochades use a small, portable format. Robert Henri a ...
(coloured sketch) of the scene, which was also captured by
Willy Finch
Alfred William (Willy) Finch (1854 –1930) was a ceramist and painter in the pointillist and Neo-Impressionist style. Born in Brussels to British parents, he spent most of his creative life in Finland.
Life and work
Alfred William Finch ...
and
James Ensor
James Sidney Edouard, Baron Ensor (13 April 1860 – 19 November 1949) was a Belgian painter and printmaker, an important influence on expressionism and surrealism who lived in Ostend for most of his life. He was associated with the artistic g ...
.
[Norbert Hostyn. ''De walvis van 1885, gezien door J. Ensor?''. De Plate, XXI, 1992, pp. 201-203]
Musin died of a stroke. His friends and family recalled him as a
hedonist
Hedonism refers to a family of theories, all of which have in common that pleasure plays a central role in them. ''Psychological'' or ''motivational hedonism'' claims that human behavior is determined by desires to increase pleasure and to decre ...
who was always in a good mood and ready to recount his many adventures. His paintings were unusually popular with forgers, leading his son to contrive various means of identifying the originals, including certificates of authenticity and wax stamps.
References
Further reading
* L. Aubanel, "La Salle Musin", in: ''L’Écho d’Ostende'', nrs. 1435, 1437 and 1438 (1878)
* R. Beaucourt de Noortvelde, "François-Etienne Musin", in: ''Biographie Ostendaise'', Oostende (1900), pgs.214-219
* Norbert Hostyn, "Een korte kennismaking met François Musin", in: ''De Plate'', vol.5, #6 (1976), pgs.4-5
* Norbert Hostyn, "De zee en de kunst; François Musin", in: ''Neptunus'', Info-marine, 26,175 (1978-1979), #3
* Norbert Hostyn, "Twee marineschilders van bij ons: François en Auguste Musin", in: ''Het Visserijblad'', 30 Sept. 1981
* J. Verhaeghe, ''De Oostendse kunstschilders François Musin (1820-1888) en Auguste Musin (1852-1923), een familiekroniek'', (Oostendse Historische Publicaties, N°4), Ostend (1999)
* Edward H. H. Archibald, ''Dictionary of Sea-Painters of Europe and America''. Woodbridge, Antique Collectors' Club (2000)
* P.& V. Berko "Seascapes of Belgian Painters born between 1750 & 1875", Knokke 1984, p. 114-123.
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Musin, Francois
1820 births
1888 deaths
Artists from Ostend
Belgian marine painters
19th-century Belgian painters
19th-century Belgian male artists
Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts alumni