Henri Jean Augustin de Braekeleer (11 June 1840 – 20 July 1888) was a Belgian painter. He was born and died in Antwerp. He was trained in drawing by his father
Ferdinand de Braekeleer
Ferdinand de Braekeleer ( Antwerp, 12 February 1792 – Antwerp, 16 May 1883), sometimes spelled as Ferdinand de Braeckeleer, was a Flemish painter and printmaker. , a well-known genre painter, and his uncle
Jan August Hendrik Leys
Henri Leys, Hendrik Leys or Jan August Hendrik, Baron Leys (18 February 1815 – 26 August 1869) was a Belgian painter and printmaker. He was a leading representative of the historical or Romantic school in Belgian art and became a pioneer of th ...
. Braekeleer entered the
Royal Academy of Fine Arts (Antwerp) in 1854. Although he remained a student there until 1861, he publicly exhibited his paintings for the first time in 1858, when ''Reaper'' and ''Washerwoman'' (locations unknown) were shown at the Antwerp Salon. In 1863, he went to Germany and, in 1864, to the Netherlands, studying works by 16th- and 17th-century painters in both countries. The influence of
Johannes Vermeer
Johannes Vermeer ( , , see below; also known as Jan Vermeer; October 1632 – 15 December 1675) was a Dutch Baroque Period painter who specialized in domestic interior scenes of middle-class life. During his lifetime, he was a moderately succe ...
was especially important, seen in one of de Braekeleer's most characteristic subjects: a single person absorbed in a quiet activity, shown in an interior lit by a window.
In 1869, de Braekeleer signed a contract with the Belgian art dealer, Gustave Coûteaux, a relationship that continued until 1876. In the same year, his uncle Baron Leys died. The two events combined to create the most productive period in de Braekeleer's career, when he made the works for which he is best known and received public recognition for them. In 1872, he received a gold medal at the Salon in Brussels for ''The Geographer'' and ''The Lesson'' and, in 1873, a gold medal at the International Exhibition in Vienna for ''The Painter's Studio'' and ''Grandmother's Birthday Celebration'' (all in the Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Brussels). However, apparently because of depression, he seems to have stopped painting between 1879 and 1881. When he started to work again, he used a shorter and more visible brushstroke, perhaps as a result of the influence of the Impressionists.
Vincent van Gogh
Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2,100 artworks, inc ...
mentioned de Braekeleer in letters to his brother Theo several times, referring to him as an artist he liked as well as one afflicted by mental illness.
References
Sources
*
* Van Gogh, Vincent. ''The Letters''. Amsterdam: The Van Gogh Museum
angoghletters.org* Vautier, Dominique. "Henri (Jean-Augustin) De Braekeleer" in ''Oxford Art Online''.
*
Further reading
* P. & V. Berko, "Dictionary of Belgian painters born between 1750 & 1875", Knokke 1981, pp. 156–158.
External links
*
Henri de Braekeleer on BALaT – Belgian Art Links and Tools*
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1840 births
1888 deaths
Artists from Antwerp
19th-century Belgian painters
19th-century Belgian male artists
Belgian genre painters
Royal Academy of Fine Arts (Antwerp) alumni
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