Henri, Hendrik, or Henry Voordecker (15 August 1779, Brussels – 3 December 1861, Brussels) was a Belgian painter of genre scenes, especially of birds such as pigeons – his most notable works include ''

Hunter's Home ''Hunter's Home'' (Dutch: ''Jagerswoning'') is an 1826 oil painting by the Belgian artist Henry Voordecker. The painting depicts a hunter at home, surrounded by animals and members of his family; a typical genre painting. It is in the collection ...

''.Royal Collection By late in his career he was regarded as perhaps the most distinguished painter in Brussels, and was also successful in Britain. He specialized in genre scenes from the beginning of his career, landscapes and animal scenes; in the latter genre predominantly pigeons and poultry. Voordecker painted in the

romantic style Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate ...

, at once charming and commercial. As Voordecker's art was in sympathy with the spirit of the age, his success with an audience of wealthy citizens was assured. King William I bought a panel by him in 1820. Collections with his works include the

Rijksmuseum The Rijksmuseum () is the national museum of the Netherlands dedicated to Dutch arts and history and is located in Amsterdam. The museum is located at the Museum Square in the borough of Amsterdam South, close to the Van Gogh Museum, the St ...

in Amsterdam, the

Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium The Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium (french: Musées royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, nl, Koninklijke Musea voor Schone Kunsten van België) are a group of art museums in Brussels, Belgium. They include six museums: the Oldmasters Muse ...

in Brussels, and the Belgian as well as the British

Royal Collection The Royal Collection of the British royal family is the largest private art collection in the world. Spread among 13 occupied and historic royal residences in the United Kingdom, the collection is owned by King Charles III and overseen by the ...

. A scene with eight pigeons was given by Queen Victoria to her husband

Albert, Prince Consort Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (Franz August Karl Albert Emanuel; 26 August 1819 – 14 December 1861) was the consort of Queen Victoria from their marriage on 10 February 1840 until his death in 1861. Albert was born in the Saxon duch ...

on his birthday in 1841.

Career

Voordecker studied with

Jean-Baptiste Le Roy Jean-Baptiste Le Roy (15 August 1720, Paris – 20 January 1800, Paris) was an 18th-century French physicist and one of the major contributors to the ''Encyclopédie'' by Diderot and d’Alembert for technology. The son of 18th-century Parisian cl ...

, who was a Brussels counterpart of the

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,

animal painter

Balthasar Paul Ommeganck Balthasar Paul Ommeganck (sometimes also: Paul Balthasar Ommeganck) (1755–1826) was a Flemish painter of landscape painter, landscapes and animal painter, animals active in Antwerp. Through his work and his role as an art teacher and founder o ...

, and knew

Jacques-Louis David Jacques-Louis David (; 30 August 1748 – 29 December 1825) was a French painter in the Neoclassicism, Neoclassical style, considered to be the preeminent painter of the era. In the 1780s, his cerebral brand of history painting marked a change in ...

, who lived in exile in Brussel after 1816. According to Philippe Bordes, Voordecker may have collaborated with David to paint the figure of Agamemnon in the 1819 version of the painting ''The Rage of Achilles'', now in the Kimbell Art Museum, at Fort Worth in Texas). Some of their correspondence survives and is a useful source for David's later life.

Family

The son of Pierre Decker and Agnes Rega, Henri Voordecker married Marie Jeanne Guldentops. They had a son, François, and a daughter, Louise; both became artists. Louise was the art teacher at the court of King Leopold I and painted mostly fruit and flowers. François Decker was a genre painter and portraitist.

References

*"Royal Collection"
''Pigeons''

Literature

* Pieter J.J. van Thiel, c.s. ''All the Paintings of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam'', Amsterdam, 1976. * W.G. Flippo, ''Lexicon of the Belgian Romantic Painters. Antwerpen''. 1981. * P. en V. Berko, ''Dictionnaire des peintres belges nés entre 1750 et 1875'', Brussel-Knokke, 1981. * N. Hostyn, ''Van de os op de ezel. Belgische dierenschilders in de 19de eeuw''. (tentoonstellingscat.) Brussel 1982. * Kon. ''Musea voor Schone Kunsten van België''. Departement Moderne kunst. Inventaris-catalogus van de moderne schilderkunst. Brussel, 1984. * N. Hostyn, "Henri Voordecker", in: ''Nationaal Biografisch Woordenboek'', 13, Brussel, 1990. * Les Salons retrouvés. ''Éclat de la vie artistique dans la France du Nord'' 1815–1848, s.l., (1993). {{DEFAULTSORT:Voordecker, Henry 1779 births 1861 deaths Dutch painters Belgian painters Animal painters Bird artists 19th-century Belgian painters