Zeger Jacob van Helmont (1683 in

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,

– 1726 in

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 ...

), was a Flemish painter and tapestry designer who specialized in portraits and history paintings. He trained with his father in Antwerp but spent his active career in Brussels where he worked for the local churches and tapestry works.Zeger Jacob van Helmont
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

Zeger Jacob van Helmont was born in Antwerp as the son of the history and portrait painter Jan van Helmont and Isabella le Rousseau. He trained with his father but did not join the local

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 Antwerp. Instead, he moved in 1711 to Brussels, the capital of the Spanish Netherlands and the location of the court. In Brussels he joined the local Guild of Saint Luke in the hope of finding a ready market for his work. As the result of the 1695

Bombardment of Brussels The bombardment of Brussels by troops of Louis XIV of France on August 13, 14 and 15, 1695, and the resulting fire were together the most destructive event in the entire history of Brussels. Brussels was mostly untouched by most other confli ...

by French troops many churches, guilds and the local authorities ordered new artworks to replace those destroyed during the bombardment.Frans Jozef Peter Van den Branden, ''Geschiedenis der Antwerpsche schilderschool'', Antwerpen, 1883, p. 974 Van Helmont secured many commissions from these institutions. He also found work to make cartoons for the local tapestry works.Thomas P. Campbell, Pascal-François Bertrand, Jeri Bapasola, 'Tapestry in the Baroque: Threads of Splendor', Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.), Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1 Jan 2007, p. 452 and 488 He died in Brussels.

Work

Zeger Jacob van Helmont - Portrait of Jacques Ignace de Roore

He is known for paintings and tapestry designs of historical allegories, religious compositions and portraits painted in a Classicist style.Peter C. Sutton, ''The Age of Rubens'', Museum of Fine Arts, 1993, p. 86 He made a number of portraits, which were engraved, such as the '' Portrait of Bruno van der Dussen, regent of Gouda'', which was engraved by

Bernard Picart Bernard Picart or Picard (11 June 1673 – 8 May 1733), was a French draughtsman, engraver, and book illustrator in Amsterdam, who showed an interest in cultural and religious habits. Life Picart was born in rue Saint-Jacques, Paris as ...

. He also painted a portrait of his fellow painter

Jacques Ignatius de Roore Jacques Ignatius de Roore or Jacobus Ignatius de RooreName variations: Jacobus Ignatius Roere, Jacques Ignatius de Roere, Jacobus Roré, Jacques (Ignace) de Roore, Droré ( Antwerp, 20 July 1686 – The Hague, 17 July 1747) was a Flemish painter, ...

(1712, Musée des beaux-arts de Valenciennes). He executed various religious works for the Brussels churches. Van Helmont made cartoons for the Brussels workshops. The Leyniers workshop ordered a series of cartoons on

Ovid Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the th ...

Metamorphoses The ''Metamorphoses'' ( la, Metamorphōsēs, from grc, μεταμορφώσεις: "Transformations") is a Latin narrative poem from 8 CE by the Roman poet Ovid. It is considered his ''magnum opus''. The poem chronicles the history of the wo ...

and van Helmont copied works of the French artist

Charles de La Fosse Charles de La Fosse (or Lafosse; 15 June 1636 – 13 December 1716) was a French painter born in Paris. Life He was one of the most noted and least servile pupils of Le Brun, under whose direction he shared in the chief of the great decorativ ...

for this commission. He also made a series of scenes of country life 'after Teniers' together with the landscape painter

Augustin Coppens Augustin Coppens or Aurelius Augustinus Coppens (9 March 1668, in Brussels – 31 August 1740, in Brussels) was a Flemish painter, engraver, draughtsman and tapestry designer active in Brussels. He specialized in landscape and city views. He i ...

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Helmont, Zeger Jacob van Flemish Baroque painters Flemish portrait painters Flemish history painters Flemish tapestry artists Artists from Antwerp Artists from Brussels Painters from Brussels 1683 births 1726 deaths 18th-century Flemish painters