![Beaux-Arts de Carcassonne - Bataille de chiens et de chats - Nicasius Bernaerts](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/82/Beaux-Arts_de_Carcassonne_-_Bataille_de_chiens_et_de_chats_-_Nicasius_Bernaerts.jpg)
Nicasius Bernaerts, Monsù Nicasio or simply Nicasius(1620,
Antwerp – 1678,
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
) was a
Flemish
Flemish (''Vlaams'') is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Dutch ( ), or Southern Dutch (). Flemish is native to Flanders, a historical region in northern Belgium; ...
painter of animals, hunting pieces and flowers who had an international career in Italy and Paris. He worked for the French court and provided tapestry designs to the
Gobelins Manufactory.
[Nicasius Bernaerts]
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
Bernaerts was born in Antwerp. He studied painting under
Frans Snyders
Frans Snyders or Frans Snijders (11 November 1579, Antwerp – 19 August 1657, Antwerp) was a Flemish painter of animals, hunting scenes, market scenes and still lifes. He was one of the earliest specialist animaliers and he is credited with ...
, the leading animal painter in Antwerp. After completing his training, he travelled to Italy. Here he was known as 'Monsù Nicasio'.
[ His work was collected in Italy by ]Ferdinando II de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany
Ferdinando II de' Medici (14 July 1610 – 23 May 1670) was grand duke of Tuscany from 1621 to 1670. He was the eldest son of Cosimo II de' Medici and Maria Maddalena of Austria. He was remembered by his contemporaries as a man of culture ...
.
Bernaerts subsequently travelled to France where he worked in Paris for a number of years around 1643. He returned to Antwerp where he became a master of the Guild of Saint 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 Evangelist Luke, the patron saint of artists, who was ide ...
in 1654.[
In 1659 he moved to Paris. He was admitted into the ]Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture
Royal may refer to:
People
* Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name
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* Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community
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in Paris in 1663.[ He was employed by the French king ]Louis XIV
, house = Bourbon
, father = Louis XIII
, mother = Anne of Austria
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France
, death_date =
, death_place = Palace of Ver ...
to make paintings of all the new animals added to his menagerie at Versailles
The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed, ...
.
In 1673 Bernaerts provided 46 studies of 52 species of animals. Some of these paintings were subsequently used to decorate the pavilion at the menagerie.
He subsequently entered the service of the royal administration and provided studies and animal paintings for the needs of the Gobelins Manufactory and royal real estate office (Garde-Meuble de la Couronne).[
Bernaerts was later in life reduced to poverty as a result of alcoholism. He died in poverty in 1678.][Nicasius (ou Nicaise) Bernaerts]
(Anvers 1620 - Paris 1678)
The French animal painter
An animal painter is an artist who specialises in (or is known for their skill in) the portrayal of animals.
The '' OED'' dates the first express use of the term "animal painter" to the mid-18th century: by English physician, naturalist and wr ...
Alexandre-François Desportes
Alexandre-François Desportes (24 February 1661 — 20 April 1743) was a French painter and decorative designer who specialised in animals.
Desportes was born in Champigneulle, Ardennes. He studied in Paris, in the studio of the Flemish painter ...
was his pupil.
Work
Nicasius Bernaerts painted animals, hunting pieces, including game pieces, and still lifes.[
Bernaerts is known for his extensive and violent depictions of animals in combat, in particular of predatory birds. These were directly inspired by similar works by his master Frans Snyders who pioneered this genre in Flanders. Bernaerts worked on such scenes before and possibly during the period he was employed at the Gobelins tapestry manufactory.][Peter Sahlins, 'The Royal Menageries of Louis XIV and the Civilizing Process Revisited', in: French Historical Studies 35 (2) (2012), p.226-46]
In his paintings of the animals from the menagerie at Versailles, Bernaerts presented his subjects with a pedagogic objective. The animals are depicted in quiet poses, their bodies almost always in profile, their eyes often turned to the viewer, as in portraits of humans. This posing of the animal allows the viewer to better observe the anatomy of each animal. Each creature is set against a classicizing landscape background. Bernaerts' paintings are now the best sources for identifying the original animal population of the Versailles menagerie as they were inventoried by Nicolas Bailly in his ''Inventaire des tableaux du roy rédigé entre 1709 et 1710'' (first published by Fernand Engerand, Paris, 1899).[
There is uncertainty regarding the actual authorship of the numerous unsigned oil-sketches that came to the Louvre during the ]French Revolution
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...
and were listed as 'A.F. Desportes' originally and then distributed as such about a century ago to French provincial museums. An old Gobelins-inventory, which was rediscovered in 1967, shows that a number of these works were produced by the generation of artist preceding Desportes such as Nicasius Bernaerts. It is assumed that among the works now given to Bernaerts at the Louvre a number must be authentic, most probably the nicely done, rather antiquated portraits of different poultry races.[
Bernaerts also painted portraits of pets as shown in the '' Portrait of Tambon, dog of the Duke of Vendôme'' (1865, Auctioned at Christie's on 28–29 September 2015 in Paris, lot 386).Nicasius Bernaerts, ''Portrait of Tambon, dog of the Duke of Vendôme]
', at Christie's
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bernaerts, Nicasius
1608 births
1678 deaths
Flemish Baroque painters
Flemish still life painters
Painters from Antwerp