Mattheus Ignatius van Bree (

Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

, 1773 – Antwerp, 1839) was a Belgian

painter Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

. 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 art.G. Jansen. "Van Brée."
Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. Web. 2 Mar. 2014.

Biography

He was first trained from the age of 10 in the local art academy. One of his teachers was Petrus Johannes van Regemorter. He became assistant-professor at the Academy and got his own studio in 1794. He left for Paris in 1797 where he studied with

François-André Vincent François-André Vincent (; 30 December 1746 – 4 August 1816) was a French neoclassical painter. Biography Vincent was born in Paris in 1746, the son of the miniaturist François-Elie Vincent. He studied under Joseph-Marie Vien and wa ...

. He participated that year in the Paris Salon and won second prize in the

Prix de Rome The Prix de Rome () or Grand Prix de Rome was a French scholarship for arts students, initially for painters and sculptors, that was established in 1663 during the reign of Louis XIV of France. Winners were awarded a bursary that allowed them t ...

with his painting ''The death of Cato in Utica''. Shortly afterwards he returned to Antwerp, becoming a teacher at the re-opened Academy in 1804. From 1801 he undertook some important commissions, for example The Arrival of the First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte at Antwerp, 18 June 1803, painted for Josephine de Beauharnais. During the period of French rule he executed historical subjects and portraits in a stark neo-classical style owing much to both David and Vincent. He served as a curator at the Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp. Van Bree was after the end of French occupation in 1813 a member of the commission responsible for recovering works of art confiscated by the French and was able to retrieve many works by

Rubens Sir Peter Paul Rubens ( ; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish artist and diplomat. He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque tradition. Rubens' highly charged compositions reference erudite aspects of clas ...

. In 1821 he traveled to Italy and visited Florence and Rome with his former pupil Ferdinand de Braekeleer the Elder. In Florence he made in the

Uffizi The Uffizi Gallery ( ; , ) is a prominent art museum adjacent to the Piazza della Signoria in the Historic Centre of Florence in the region of Tuscany, Italy. One of the most important Italian museums and the most visited, it is also one of th ...

drawings after portraits by

Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 1452 - 2 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially rested o ...

and

Raphael Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino (; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), now generally known in English as Raphael ( , ), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. List of paintings by Raphael, His work is admired for its cl ...

. In the same year he also published his views on art in ''Leçons de dessin'' (Drawing lessons). In 1827 he became director of the Antwerp Academy after the resignation of Willem Jacob Herreyns. He was a member of several overseas art institutions such as the academies of Amsterdam, Rome, Munich and New York. He trained some of the eminent painters of the next generation such as

Egide Charles Gustave Wappers Egide Charles Gustave, Baron Wappers (23 August 18036 December 1874) was a Belgian painter. His work is generally considered to be Flemish and he signed his work with the Dutch form of his name, Gustaaf Wappers.Note: The painter is known by one ...

Nicaise de Keyser Nicaise de Keyser (alternative first names: Nicaas, Nikaas of Nicasius; 26 August 1813, Zandvliet – 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- ...

Jan August Hendrik Leys Henri Leys, Hendrik Leys or Jan August Hendrik, Baron Leys (18 February 1815 – 26 August 1869) was a Belgium, Belgian painter and printmaker. He was a leading representative of the historical or Romanticism, Romantic school in Belgian art and b ...

Antoine Wiertz Antoine Joseph Wiertz (22 February 1806 – 18 June 1865) was a Belgian painter, sculptor, lithographer and art writer. He is known for his religious, historical, and allegorical works and portraits. He was an eccentric figure who originally was ...

Jules Victor Génisson Jules Victor Génisson (; 24 February 1805 - 10 October 1860) was a Belgian painter, chiefly known for his architectural painting. Biography Born in Saint-Omer, in Northern France, in 1805, he studied at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts (Antwerp), ...

and Ferdinand de Braekeleer the Elder in whom he instilled his admiration for the masters of the Flemish school, and in particular, Rubens and

van Dyck Sir Anthony van Dyck (; ; 22 March 1599 – 9 December 1641) was a Flemish Baroque artist who became the leading court painter in England after success in the Spanish Netherlands and Italy. The seventh child of Frans van Dyck, a wealt ...

. Egide Linnig who studied under van Bree was not happy with the emphasis placed on history painting by van Bree.N. Hostyn, "LINNIG, Egide, marineschilder en scheepsportrettist", in ''Nationaal biografisch woordenboek'', (1970), IX 481-486

Work

Initially starting out in a French neo-classical style with themes inspired by Antiquity, he changed after the expulsion of the French in 1813 to painting historical pictures based on Dutch and Flemish history. His style also became more reminiscent of Rubens in its use of looser brushwork and a warmer palette. His historical paintings were often of large dimensions and earned him a high reputation in his lifetime. He also painted more small-scale and colourful oil sketches and it is these works that are now most esteemed. He also made a few sculptures. Among his most important works are ''The Patriotism of the Burgomaster Van der Werft'', in the city hall of

Leyden Leiden ( ; ; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 127,046 (31 January 2023), but the city forms one densely connecte ...

, and ''The Death of Rubens'', in the Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp. Van Bree-Le Friedland

Notes

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bree, Mattheus Ignatius 1773 births 1839 deaths 19th-century Flemish painters Academic staff of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts (Antwerp)