Nicaise de Keyser (alternative first names: Nicaas, Nikaas of Nicasius; 26 August 1813,
Zandvliet
Zandvliet () is a former Belgian town forming part of the Antwerp district of Berendrecht-Zandvliet-Lillo. The place dates back to 1135 when it was known as ''Santflit'', meaning "a navigable passage through sand".
In 1622 the Spaniard Ambrog ...
– 17 July 1887,
Antwerp) was a Belgian painter of mainly history paintings and portraits who was one of the key figures in the Belgian
Romantic-historical school of painting.
Biography
He received his painting tuition at the
Antwerp Academy of Fine Arts under Jozef Jacobs and
Mattheus Ignatius van Bree
Mattheus Ignatius van Bree (Antwerp, 1773 – Antwerp, 1839) was a Belgian painter. He was one of the founders of the historical school of painting in Belgium and played an important role as a teacher in the development of 19th-century Belgian a ...
. After 1835 he made many travels including to England and Scotland, Paris and Italy.
[D. Cardyn-Oomen. "De Keyser, Nicaise."]
Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. Web. 2 March 2014 He married the
genre painter
Genre painting (or petit genre), a form of genre art, depicts aspects of everyday life by portraying ordinary people engaged in common activities. One common definition of a genre scene is that it shows figures to whom no identity can be attached ...
Isabella Telghuys on 6 October 1840. In 1846, he was elected to the
National Academy of Design
The National Academy of Design is an honorary association of American artists, founded in New York City in 1825 by Samuel Morse, Asher Durand, Thomas Cole, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, and others "to promote the f ...
as an Honorary Academician.
When in 1855 the leading Belgian Romantic painter
Gustave Wappers resigned as director of the Antwerp Academy, de Keyser succeeded him.
As with the work of other Belgian history painters such as
Edouard de Bièfve,
Ernest Slingeneyer
Ernest Slingeneyer, Ernest Isidore Hubert Slingeneyer or Ernst Slingeneyer[Louis Gallait
Louis Gallait (9 or 10 May 1810 – 20 November 1887) was a Belgian painter. He lay at the basis of a revival of history painting in Belgium. He earned his reputation especially with the large painting of Charles V's abdication. Gallait's works w ...]
, there was particular appreciation for Nicaise de Keyser's history paintings in German-speaking Europe. De Keyser regularly travelled to Germany and in 1873 he was awarded the famous Prussian order "
Pour le Mérite
The ' (; , ) is an order of merit (german: Verdienstorden) established in 1740 by King Frederick II of Prussia. The was awarded as both a military and civil honour and ranked, along with the Order of the Black Eagle, the Order of the Red Eag ...
".
Despite his great success and fame throughout his lifetime, his work, like that of the other Belgian Romantic painters, was quickly forgotten in the 20th century.
He had many students, including
Léon Abry,
Aloïs Boudry
Aloïs Boudry (12 August 1851, Ypres – 27 November 1938, Antwerp) was a Belgian painter known for his portraits, still lifes and interiors.
Life
He studied at the art schools in Ypres and Roeselare and finished at the Royal Academy of Fine ...
,
Edgard Farasyn,
Godfried Guffens,
Edouard Hamman,
Joseph Lies,
George du Maurier
George Louis Palmella Busson du Maurier (6 March 1834 – 8 October 1896) was a Franco-British cartoonist and writer known for work in ''Punch'' and a Gothic novel ''Trilby'', featuring the character Svengali. His son was the actor Sir Gerald ...
,
Karel Ooms,
Ferdinand Pauwels
Wilhelm Ferdinand Pauwels ( ˆpÊŒu̯əls 13 April 1830, Ekeren – 26 March 1904, Dresden) was a Belgian history painter who lived and worked in Germany.
Life
From 1842 to 1850, he studied at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts (Antwerp), under Gu ...
,
Edward Portielje,
Jan Swerts,
Eliza Turck,
Alexis Van Hamme,
Jan Verhas,
Frans Verhas and
Charles Verlat.
[Biographical details]
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 ...
Work
De Keyser was an extremely prolific painter and is said to have produced more than 350 paintings.
Having debuted with religious pictures, his attention was later drawn to his country's history. His breakthrough as a painter came with the canvas
Battle of the Golden Spurs, which was exhibited at the
Brussels
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
Salon in 1836. It depicts a scene from an important historical battle between France and Flanders of 1302. Seeing the painting is said to have inspired the Belgian writer
Hendrik Conscience
Henri (Hendrik) Conscience (3 December 1812 – 10 September 1883) was a Belgian author. He is considered the pioneer of Dutch-language literature in Flanders, writing at a time when Belgium was dominated by the French language among the upper cl ...
to write his book ''"De Leeuw van Vlaanderen"'' (The Lion of Flanders) about the Flemish battle for independence from the French. The success of de Keyser's work was followed by his less impressive work, the ''
Battle of Worringen
The Battle of Worringen was fought on 5 June 1288 near the town of Worringen (also spelled Woeringen), which is now the northernmost borough of Cologne. It was the decisive battle of the War of the Limburg Succession, fought for the possession ...
of 1288''. Starting in 1862, de Keyser painted a series of decorative historical paintings that celebrated the Flemish school of art. The paintings were intended for the former Antwerp museum and academy building. When the new
Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp was completed in the late nineteenth century, the paintings were transferred to the staircase of the museum.
De Keyser belonged to the first wave of Belgian Romantic painters who had typically studied or spent time in Paris where they had come into contact with the new Romantic movement. Others in this group included
Gustave Wappers, Louis Gallait, Ernest Slingeneyer, Edouard de Bièfve and other minor figures. They chose as the subject matter of their work important historical events in Belgium's history which were regarded as key to the country's national identity. Unlike their French models such as
Delacroix, their work, though colourful, lacked true Romantic zest and became popular with the artistic establishment which rewarded the artists with numerous commissions. Despite the Romantic subject matter and the Baroque compositional techniques of his historical and genre paintings, the finishing of de Keyser's paintings is in academic style, with the use of sharp lines and clearly drawn details.
De Keyser also painted
genre paintings and elegantly refined portraits.
Honours
* 1845 : Member of the
Royal Academy of Science, Letters and Fine Arts of Belgium
The Royal Academy of Science, Letters and Fine Arts of Belgium (french: Académie royale des sciences, des lettres et des beaux-arts de Belgique, sometimes referred to as ') is the independent learned society of science and arts of the French Comm ...
.
* 1849 : Member of the
Prussian Academy of Arts
The Prussian Academy of Arts (German: ''Preußische Akademie der Künste'') was a state arts academy first established in Berlin, Brandenburg, in 1694/1696 by prince-elector Frederick III, in personal union Duke Frederick I of Prussia, and late ...
.
* 1862 : Officer in the
Legion of Honour
The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...
.
* 1873 :
Pour le Mérite
The ' (; , ) is an order of merit (german: Verdienstorden) established in 1740 by King Frederick II of Prussia. The was awarded as both a military and civil honour and ranked, along with the Order of the Black Eagle, the Order of the Red Eag ...
* 1874 : President of the
Royal Academy of Science, Letters and Fine Arts of Belgium
The Royal Academy of Science, Letters and Fine Arts of Belgium (french: Académie royale des sciences, des lettres et des beaux-arts de Belgique, sometimes referred to as ') is the independent learned society of science and arts of the French Comm ...
.
* 1881 : Grand Officer in the
Order of Leopold, by
Royal Order
In Belgium, a Royal Decree (RD) or Royal Order () (Dutch), Arrêté Royal (French), or Königlicher Erlass (German) is a federal governmental decree exercising legislation, or powers the legislature has delegated to the King as secondary legisla ...
of 4 mai 1881.
[Handelsblad (Het) 15-05-1881]
Selected portraits
File:NICAISE Leopold ANV.jpg, Leopold I of Belgium
* nl, Leopold Joris Christiaan Frederik
* en, Leopold George Christian Frederick
, image = NICAISE Leopold ANV.jpg
, caption = Portrait by Nicaise de Keyser, 1856
, reign = 21 July 1831 –
, predecessor = Erasme Lou ...
File:Louise Marie d'Orléans-de Keyser.jpg, Louise d'Orléans, Queen of the Belgians
File:Leopold of Belgium, Duke of Brabant; Nicaise de Keyser.jpg, Leopold II of Belgium
* german: link=no, Leopold Ludwig Philipp Maria Viktor
, house = Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
, father = Leopold I of Belgium
, mother = Louise of Orléans
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Brussels, Belgium
, death_date = ...
File:Olga Nikolaevna of Wurtemberg by N.De Keyser (1848, priv.coll.).jpg, Queen Olga of Württemberg
Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna of Russia (11 September 1822 – 30 October 1892) was a member of the Russian imperial family who by marriage to Charles I of Württemberg became Queen consort of the Kingdom of Württemberg until Charles' death. ...
, 1848
File:Petrarch and Laura, by Nicaise de Keyser.jpg, Petrarch
Francesco Petrarca (; 20 July 1304 – 18/19 July 1374), commonly anglicized as Petrarch (), was a scholar and poet of early Renaissance Italy, and one of the earliest humanists.
Petrarch's rediscovery of Cicero's letters is often credited ...
and Laura
File:William II, King of the Netherlands, by Nicaise de Keyser.jpg, William II, King of the Netherlands
William II ( nl, Willem Frederik George Lodewijk, anglicized as William Frederick George Louis; 6 December 1792 – 17 March 1849) was King of the Netherlands, Grand Duke of Luxembourg, and Duke of Limburg.
William II was the son of William ...
Bibliography
*Hymans, Notice sur la vie et les travaux de N. de Keyser, Brussels, 1889.
*Laurent Stevens, "Bravo Toro: souvenir d'une course de taureaux à Madrid: La peinture tauromachique de Nicaise de Keyser", Annales d'histoire de l'art et d'archéologie (Université Libre de Bruxelles), vol.32, 2010, pp. 93–112.
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Keyser, Nicaise de
1813 births
1887 deaths
History painters
Portrait painters
Belgian romantic painters
Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (civil class)
Royal Academy of Fine Arts (Antwerp) alumni
Royal Academy of Fine Arts (Antwerp) faculty
19th-century Belgian painters
19th-century Belgian male artists
President of the Royal Academy of Belgium
People from Zandvliet