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Gerard Rijsbrack or Gerard Rysbrack (1696–1773) was a Flemish painter of
at the Netherlands Institute for Art History He was the younger brother of the sculptor John Michael Rysbrack, one of the leading sculptors in England around the mid-18th century.Robert Williams and Katharine Eustace. "Pieter Andreas Rysbrack." Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. Web. 22 November 2014
Gerard’s siblings included a number of artists. His older brother Pieter Andreas was a still life and landscape painter while another older brother was the sculptor John Michael Rysbrack. Pieter Andreas and John Michael moved to London around 1620 where they built successful careers. Gerard joined his two brothers in England. John Michael Rysbrack became one of the leading sculptors in England and was particularly known for his portraits. As a sculptor to the elite, he was able to build a network of relationships with influential people in England. This network may have helped his brothers in gaining commissions from prominent patrons. The absence of signed and dated work by Gerard from his English period may indicate that he worked in the successful workshop of his brother Pieter Andreas.
Gerard left England for Paris where he is known to have been active from around 1747, although he may have moved there before this time. His move to Paris may be related to the fact that his brother Pieter Andreas Rijsbrack was no longer able to work as he was suffering from consumption from which he died in London in October 1748.
Gerard Rijsbrack was successful in France where he enjoyed royal patronage. Like his compatriot Pieter Boel in the 17th century, Rysbrack received various commissions to produce paintings for the
at Connaissances de Versailles He is said to have died blind and impoverished in Antwerp to where he had returned at the end of his life.
He is known mainly for his still lifes, game pieces and hunting scenes. He is also reported to have painted mythological subjects.
In his compositions of hunting scenes for Mme Pompadour representing respectively a wolf hunt and a deer hunt, he stayed close to compositions by French painters
Gerard Rijsbrack or Gerard Rysbrack (1696–1773) was a Flemish painter of still life
A still life (plural: still lifes) is a work of art depicting mostly wikt:inanimate, inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which are either natural (food, flowers, dead animals, plants, rocks, shells, etc.) or artificiality, m ...
s, game pieces, hunting scenes and mythological scenes. He first worked in England and later in Paris where he received royal commissions.Gerard Rijsbrackat the Netherlands Institute for Art History He was the younger brother of the sculptor John Michael Rysbrack, one of the leading sculptors in England around the mid-18th century.Robert Williams and Katharine Eustace. "Pieter Andreas Rysbrack." Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. Web. 22 November 2014
Life
Gerard Rijsbrack was born inAntwerp
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 the landscape painter Pieter Rijsbraeck
Pieter Rijsbraeck (1655–1729) was a Flemish landscape painter, draughtsman and printmaker. He had an international career which brought him to England and Paris. His sons Pieter Andreas Rysbrack and John Michael Rysbrack were respectively a ...
and Geneviève (Genoveva) Compagnon, a French woman his father had married in France. He was baptized in the Antwerp Cathedral
The Cathedral of Our Lady ( nl, Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekathedraal) is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Antwerp, Belgium. Today's see of the Diocese of Antwerp started in 1352 and, although the first stage of construction was ended in 1521, has never been ...
on 19 December 1996. Gerard likely studied painting with his father. He became a member of the 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 ...
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 1725.
Gerard’s siblings included a number of artists. His older brother Pieter Andreas was a still life and landscape painter while another older brother was the sculptor John Michael Rysbrack. Pieter Andreas and John Michael moved to London around 1620 where they built successful careers. Gerard joined his two brothers in England. John Michael Rysbrack became one of the leading sculptors in England and was particularly known for his portraits. As a sculptor to the elite, he was able to build a network of relationships with influential people in England. This network may have helped his brothers in gaining commissions from prominent patrons. The absence of signed and dated work by Gerard from his English period may indicate that he worked in the successful workshop of his brother Pieter Andreas.
Gerard left England for Paris where he is known to have been active from around 1747, although he may have moved there before this time. His move to Paris may be related to the fact that his brother Pieter Andreas Rijsbrack was no longer able to work as he was suffering from consumption from which he died in London in October 1748.
Gerard Rijsbrack was successful in France where he enjoyed royal patronage. Like his compatriot Pieter Boel in the 17th century, Rysbrack received various commissions to produce paintings for the menagerie
A menagerie is a collection of captive animals, frequently exotic, kept for display; or the place where such a collection is kept, a precursor to the modern Zoo, zoological garden.
The term was first used in 17th-century France, in reference to ...
at Versailles.Claudia Salvi, ''Le grand livre des animaux de Buffon'', Renaissance Du Livre, 2002 In Paris, p. 174-175 The artist also received a royal commission for overdoor paintings of hunting scenes for the Chateau de la Muette, originally the hunting lodge of the French king but used by Louis XV to entertain his mistresses. Rijsbrack received 700 pounds for each hunting piece between 1749 and 1751. Between 1748 and 1751 he also made paintings for the king’s mistress Madame de Pompadour
Jeanne Antoinette Poisson, Marquise de Pompadour (, ; 29 December 1721 – 15 April 1764), commonly known as Madame de Pompadour, was a member of the French court. She was the official chief mistress of King Louis XV from 1745 to 1751, and rema ...
, destined for the Ermitage of Pompadour and the Palace of Versailles
The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, Yvelines, Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 19 ...
. He received 4,460 pounds for his paintings for the Ermitage.Geerard Rysbrack, peintre de Louis XV et de Mme de Pompadourat Connaissances de Versailles He is said to have died blind and impoverished in Antwerp to where he had returned at the end of his life.
Work
He is known mainly for his still lifes, game pieces and hunting scenes. He is also reported to have painted mythological subjects.
In his compositions of hunting scenes for Mme Pompadour representing respectively a wolf hunt and a deer hunt, he stayed close to compositions by French painters François Desportes
François () is a French masculine given name and surname, equivalent to the English name Francis.
People with the given name
* Francis I of France, King of France (), known as "the Father and Restorer of Letters"
* Francis II of France, King ...
and Jean-Baptiste Oudry. The paintings were primarily intended to leave for posterity images of the king’s hounds. The identity of each dog (12 depicted in the deer hunt and 13 in the wolf hunt) is recorded in a memorial on the animal paintings of Rysbrack. Various of the dogs are marked with a triangle with a cross inside. This mark resembles the old French Écu coins and were branded on the dogs that were part of the royal pack.Bénédicte Ottinger, ''L'art et la chasse: histoire culturelle et artistique de la chasse'', Renaissance Du Livre, 2002, p. 93
In two paintings of dead game he made for the menagerie at the Palace of Versailles in 1751 ( Louvre Museum, Paris), his manner of representation shows an aesthetic as well as a documentary preoccupation. This intention to make a documentary representation of reality is further confirmed by another work in the Louvre, the ''Fishing bird, swans and fish'', which bears an inscription stating that the subject is a ‘fishing bird found in May 1748 near Pontoise'.
References
External links
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rijsbrack, Gerard Flemish still life painters 18th-century Flemish painters Painters from Antwerp 1696 births 1773 deaths