Jan Baptist van Meunincxhove
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Jan Baptist van Meunincxhove (c. 1620/25 – 1703/04) was a Flemish
painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...
of cityscapes, architectural paintings, marine views and group portraits who was active in Bruges. Without being original, he maintained a high standard of painting at a time when art in Flanders was in decline.


Life

Details about the life of Jan Baptist van Meunincxhove are few. He was born around 1620-25 and became in 1639 a pupil of the leading artist
Jacob van Oost Jacob van Oost or Jacob van Oost the Elder (1603–1671) was a Flemish painter of history paintings and portraits. He was the most important painter of Bruges in the 17th century through his portraits of members of the local bourgeois and hi ...
in Bruges. Van Meunincxhove became a master in the Bruges
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 1644.Jan Baptist van Meunincxhove
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 ...
He is recorded in Antwerp in 1677 when he became a master in the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke. Later he returned to Bruges where he is recorded between 1682 and 1704, the year in which he likely died there. Joseph van den Kerckhove was his pupil.


Work

While his master Jacob van Oost was mainly known as a history and portrait painter, Jan Baptist van Meunincxhove's artistic path ventured into more diverse directions. He is known to have worked in a wide range of genres including architectural paintings of churches, city views, group scenes, marine views, landscapes and history paintings. Jan Baptist van Meunincxhove produced two sets of views of the city centre of Bruges: each set consisted of a view of the central square and the Burg Square in Bruges (both sets are in the
Groeningemuseum The Groeningemuseum is a municipal museum in Bruges, Belgium, built on the site of the medieval Eekhout Abbey. It houses a collection of Flemish and Belgian painting covering six centuries, from Jan van Eyck to Marcel Broodthaers. The museum' ...
in Bruges). The first set was produced in 1672 and the second set in the 1690s. The figures in these cityscapes may be by the hand of other masters.Jan Baptist van Meunincxhove
at vlaamsekunstcollectie
Jan Baptist van Meunincxhove further painted two views of the interiors of the Saint Donatus and Saint Salvator churches in Bruges (first painting now in the Groeningemuseum and the other on location in the church itself). Van Meunincxhove painted two remarkable paintings documenting events which occurred during the residence in Bruges of
Charles II of England Charles II (29 May 1630 – 6 February 1685) was King of Scotland from 1649 until 1651, and King of England, Scotland and Ireland from the 1660 Restoration of the monarchy until his death in 1685. Charles II was the eldest surviving child of ...
and his brothers
Henry Stuart, Duke of Gloucester Henry Stuart, Duke of Gloucester (8 July 164013 September 1660) was the youngest son of Charles I, King of England, Scotland, and Ireland, and his wife, Henrietta Maria of France. He is also known as Henry of Oatlands. From the age of two, Henry, ...
and
James Stuart, Duke of York James VII and II (14 October 1633 16 September 1701) was King of England and King of Ireland as James II, and King of Scotland as James VII from the death of his elder brother, Charles II, on 6 February 1685. He was deposed in the Glorious Re ...
in the period from 22 April 1656 to 15 March 1659. On 2 October 1656 the King and his brothers visited the Bruges Guild of the 'Kolveniers' (Guild of Harquebusiers) where the Duke of York successfully shot the target (a parrot). This was cause for great celebration among the local population and was immediately recorded in a poem by Ingelbrecht Cockuyt of the Bruges
Chamber of Rhetoric Chambers of rhetoric ( nl, rederijkerskamers) were dramatic societies in the Low Countries. Their members were called Rederijkers (singular Rederijker), from the French word 'rhétoricien', and during the 15th and 16th centuries were mainly inte ...
. Van Meunincxhove remembered the same event about 15 years later in two works that were destined for the new premises of the Guild of the Kolveniers (both now in the Groeningemuseum). One of the compositions depicts the celebration meal and the other the King and his retinue in the 'Hoveningen', the walled garden of the Guild. In the second picture depicting the Hoveningen, van Meunincxhove follows the style of genre paintings developed in Flanders after 1660 by artists such as
Gillis van Tilborch Gillis van Tilborgh or Gillis van Tilborch (''c''. 1625 – ''c''. 1678) was a Flemish painter who worked in various genres including portraits, 'low-life' and elegant genre paintings and paintings of picture galleries. He became the keeper of ...
: he depicts the two groups of three persons on the left foreground on a small scale while the persons surrounding the King have an abnormally long leg which serves to pull the viewer into the depth of the composition. The fabric of the clothing is rendered in rich detail while the artist also depicts some anecdotic details such as the children who climb the wall to better view the event. The second painting depicting the celebration meal includes a representation of the painting of the Hoveningen. Van Meunincxhove also painted a number of compositions with religious subjects, which are now found in churches in Bruges such as the St Anne's Church. He was further known as a landscape and marine painter.Le bain des reliques de Saint Winoc
at Belgian art links and tools (BALAT)


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Meunincxhove, Jan Baptist van Flemish Baroque painters Flemish landscape painters Flemish portrait painters Flemish marine artists Painters from Bruges Year of birth uncertain