No Flemish or, exactly speaking, Netherlandish painting (since Belgium and Holland were at first comprised within the one term, Netherlands), earlier than the fifteenth century, other than miniatures and manuscript illuminations, are in existence.
Characteristics. Flemish painting until the sixteenth century was dependent on the art of no other country, so far as known. Chief subjects at first were wholly religious, and most of the pictures were designed for the church. These are painted in oils on wood, and are comparatively small in size.
Everything is strongly realistic and represented in absolute detail. There are no ideal figures ; whereas the Italian painters idealized even portraits, the early Flemish painters gave a portrait-like character to their representations of God, Christ, the Virgin Mary, and saints.
The draperies, which were evidently always local costumes, are perfect in texture. Landscapes which were often used as accessories are correct in drawing and of good tone and atmosphere. Coloring is warm and full. The early works express more sentiment than later ones and are simple in conception.
Portrait painting is an important feature. Early in the six-teenth century Flemish painting fell under Italian influence.
Hubert van Eyck (1366 ?1426) and his brother, John van Eyck (1390 ?144o), born in Bruges, Flanders, are the earliest known names. To them belongs the credit of having in-vented an excellent varnish, which gave to oil colors a fresh brilliance and caused them to dry quickly, thus greatly facilitating their use. For this they are often called the inventors of oil painting.
The advanced character of the Van Eyck painting causes the belief that good works produced by preceding artists must have existed in their time, which have since been lost to the world. The small size of Flemish pictures compared with Italian, and the fact that they were painted on movable panels, together with the unsettled condition of the country, sufficiently account for their complete loss.
Characteristics of Van Eyck Painting. In composition it is far behind contemporary Italian painting.
The figures, portrait-like in character, are represented with much rigidity of attitude and with little attempt at foreshortening. They are rather tall and slender, are well modelled, and are clothed with the richest, most lavishly decorated garments. Indeed, spiritual radiance is expressed by gorgeous raiment and glittering jewels.
The coloring is applied with full body and rich medium, and is so blended that no marks of the brush are visible. Flesh tints are very warm.
Detail is minutely finished. Each precious stone seems to invite one to lift it from the robe or crown ; and each golden thread of embroidery is as carefully painted as the face of the garment’s wearer.
Landscapes are always a feature in the works of John van Eyck. These are small in size, many of them being seen through an open window in the background, and are utterly faithful to nature in drawing, in aërial perspective, and in atmosphere. His portraits are perfect in realism.
But one picture remains to show the character of Hubert van Eyck’s painting. This is a large altar-piece, called the ” Adoration of the Lamb,” which was painted by both brothers for the church of St. Bavon, Ghent.
It was doubtless designed by Hubert, and it is believed that he painted the figures of the Deity, Virgin Mary, St. John Baptist, St. Cecilia, with the angels playing on musical instruments; Adam and Eve on the upper panels ; and on the lower, that side of the centre picture which contains the apostles and saints ; also the wing pictures rep-resenting the hermits and pilgrims, with the exception of the landscapes. After the death of Hubert the altar-piece was finished by John. This great work is now divided and scattered. Only one panel, the central one, containing the Lamb, surrounded by worshippers, is now in St. Bavon, Ghent. The two panels, representing Adam and Eve, are in the Brussels Museum, and all the remaining ones are in the Berlin Museum.
Important works by John van Eyck are :
” Virgin, Child, and Saints.” Academy, Bruges.
” St. Ursula.” Museum, Antwerp.
” Salvator Mundi,” ” Man with Pinks,” and panels of St. Bavon Altar-piece. Museum, Berlin.
Altar-piece. Dresden Gallery.
” Triumph of the Church.” Museum, Madrid.
Portraits of Jean Arnolfini and his wife. National. Gallery, London. ” Madonna with Chancellor Rollin.” Louvre, Paris.
Pieter Christus (1472) was a pupil of John van Eyck, whose works are very inferior to those of his master. The real which he painted is of a lower order than that of the Van Eycks ; his figures are stunted ; his colors untransparent, yet his work is interesting.
Examples are in Berlin Museum; Staedel Museum, Frankfort; Madrid Museum ; Gallery, Turin.
Rogier van der Weyden (14001464) was born at Tournai and painted at Brussels. His work, though that of a realist, does not at all follow the Van Eycks, but possesses distinct characteristics, some of which, such as his treatment of shadows and paleness of color, seem to have come from a study of sculptured bas-relief.
He visited Italy, where he was received with marked distinction, but was wholly uninfluenced by the art of that country.
His early pictures, like those of the Van Eycks, have all been lost. No other Flemish master exerted so much influence as he.
Characteristics. His subjects are religious, and are usually those that express deep sorrow and suffering. It has been said that he never painted a smile. He surely painted many faces that are furrowed by grief and stained by tears.
Many of his compositions are enclosed by richly carved portals, every detail of which is laboriously finished.
His figures are defective in drawing, especially the limbs, which are often meagre and tottering.
He represents spirituality by very large heads or foreheads, which are sometimes so heavy that they droop on one side ; and the amount of expression is shown by the size of the eyes. Suffering is represented by leanness of flesh and contraction of muscles. His color is pale; his shadows wanting in force ; his draperies. much broken by sharp conventional angles. The amount of his ornamentation is small for a Flemish painter.
He was fond of introducing landscapes into his back-grounds, which are most carefully rendered, but lack the atmosphere of John van Eyck’s.
Most important works :
Altar-piece, ” Adoration of the Magi,” ” Annunciation,” and “Presentation of the Virgin,” St. Luke painting the Ma-donna.” Old Pinacothek, Munich. (A duplicate of the latter is in Boston Museum of Fine Arts.)
Altar-piece. Berlin Museum.
” Descent from the Cross.” Gallery, The Hague.
” The Seven Sacraments.” Museum, Antwerp.
Pictures in Staedel Museum, Frankfort, and in Museum, Madrid.
Hans Memling (about 1425-1495?) is a very distinguished name in this school. It is not known where he was born, but he lived and painted in Bruges, and is supposed to have been a pupil of Rogier van der Weyden. His early work resembles very closely that of this master, but the later is far superior. His figures are better drawn in every detail ; his outlines are softer ; his light and shade truer.
Characteristics. Memling possessed a finer feeling for beauty, refinement, and grace than is common to Flemish painters. His faces, especially those of women, have a peculiarly pure, sweet, and attractive expression. His Madonnas are full of tender devotion. He loved to represent his figures enveloped in long brocaded robes, but did not quite equal Van der Weyden in working out the details of textures and embroideries.
His portraits are especially good, and portray the character of the subjects better than do even those of John van Eyck. His flesh tints are particularly clear, soft, and pleasing.
Representative works :
Several pictures in St. John’s Hospital, Bruges, among which are the only two inscribed with the artist’s name. Here also is the famous ” Shrine of St. Ursula”; a chest of Gothic design, about four feet in length, made, according to tradition, to hold an arm of the saint. On every side are paintings by Memling which illustrate the history of St. Ursula and her attendant martyr-virgins.”
” Madonna and Child,” ” Enthroned Madonna and Child.” Museum, Berlin.
” St. John Baptist,” ” Seven Joys of the Virgin.” Old Pinacothek, Munich.
” Seven Sorrows of the Virgin.” Gallery, Turin. The last two pictures are remarkable for the extension of the landscape, in which are included various scenes which cluster about the life of the Virgin. Landscape, towns, palaces, and figures are all exquisitely painted.
Madonna and Child.” Uffizi Gallery, Florence.
” Virgin and Infant Christ, adored by Donors,” ” Marriage of St. Catherine.” Louvre, Paris.
” Madonna and Infant Christ enthroned in a Garden,” ” St. Lawrence and St. John the Baptist.” National Gallery, London. Portraits in Museum, Brussels ; and in Uffizi Gallery, Florence.
Dieriek Stuerbouts, called Bouts (1410-1475), was also a follower of Rogier van der Weyden, whose influence is seen in his drawing of the figure and the melancholy of his faces. There is, however, a greater variety in Bouts’ heads, and much more individuality, character, and beauty.
His color is unusually full and rich, and his flesh painting admirable.
His draperies fall in softer folds than those of the Van Eycks and Van der Weyden, but his representation of textures is not so good.
His landscape backgrounds are very true and fairly well treated.
Representative works :
Altar-pieces. St. Peter’s, Louvain.
Several pictures in Old Pinacothek, Munich.
” Elijah in the Wilderness fed by an Angel,” First Celebration of the Passover.” Museum, Berlin.
Gerard van der Meire (1427 ?1474 ?) painted pictures which are marked by many Van der Weyden qualities stiff figures with large foreheads, meagre limbs, hard outlines, pale color, insufficient shade and shadow, and angular draperies. His landscapes are very minute and laboriously finished.
His most important work is an altar-piece, containing a large number of figures, in a chapel of St. Bayon, Ghent.
Gheerardt David (about 14501523) is chiefly famous for his landscape backgrounds. These are painted with excessive fidelity to nature ; even the methods of branching and leafage of trees have been studied and rendered, and with all this a pleasing breadth has been secured. Coloring of landscape is brilliant. His figures are harsh and without any grace or beauty. The vivid contrasts of color in their garments are unpleasant.
Representative works :
” Baptism of Christ.” Academy, Bruges.
” Crucifixion.” Museum, Berlin.
” Marriage of Cana.” Louvre, Paris.
” Canon and Patron Saints.” National Gallery, London.
Quentin Matsys (also spelled Metsys and Massys) (1460?1529), born in Louvain, was brought up as a blacksmith, and became distinguished for his skill in ornamental iron-work. Falling in love with the daughter of an artist, he forsook the anvil for the easel, in order to please the father and win the daughter, and in time became one of the most noted artists of this period. He painted in Antwerp.
At this time Flemish art was rapidly changing through the influence of the work of the Italian masters.
More and more northern artists felt their lack of study direct from nature, and their want of power in painting the human figure, and began to bend all their strength in this direction, striving to compete with their fellow-artists in Italy.
Matsys evinced an independence and a breadth of thought beyond those who had painted before him. His works mark the close of the early period of Flemish art and the beginning of the later one.
Characteristics. His pictures are remarkable for great power and intense dramatic expression. It seems as if his chief thought had been to paint energy of expression.
He wrought a change by increasing the size of the figures introduced to three-quarters, or even full size, thus making them the most important thing in the picture. These, in his religious pictures especially, are still somewhat angular, after the early Flemish fashion.
His execution is most careful ; his color varied and clear, and .not so rich and full as in most of the early Flemish pictures.
He, first of this school, painted purely genre pictures ; in all his work the individual characterization is finely rendered.
Most important works :
“Descent from the Cross,” Heads of Christ and the Virgin. Museum, Antwerp.
Altar-piece. Cathedral, Louvain.
” Virgin and Child.” Museum, Berlin.
” Virgin and Child.” Museum, Amsterdam.
” Pietà,” “St. Jerome,” “Ecce Homo.” Old Pinacothek, Munich. ” Christ bestowing Blessing,” ” The Banker and his Wife.” Louvre, Paris.
” Salvator Mundi ” and ” Virgin Mary.” National Gallery, London.
” Two Misers.” Windsor Castle. Possibly this picture and duplicates, which appear in other galleries, were painted by Jan Matsys, son of Quentin.
Jan Gossaert, called Mabuse (1470 ?-1541), painted in early life purely Flemish pictures, marked somewhat by the Van Eyck influence. Afterward he visited Italy and was the first Flemish artist to paint the nude. Such representations, as might be expected, are untruthful, exaggerated, and awkward in attitude and movement. They are, however, well modelled and well painted. Those smallest in size are most pleasing. His portraits are very attractive.
Representative works :
” Ecce Homo ” and other pictures. Museum, Antwerp.
” Christ in House of Simon.” Museum, Brussels.
” Neptune and Amphitrite,” ” Young Girl weighing Gold.” Museum, Berlin.
” Virgin and Child,” ” Danae.” Old Pinacothek, Munich.
” Virgin and Child.” Portrait of Jean Carondelet. Louvre, Paris.
Portraits. National Gallery, London.
Bernard (sometimes Barent) van Orley (1490 ?-1541), of Brussels, imitated the Italians, especially Raphael.
His earlier works are his best, being marked by a greater earnestness of feeling than later ones. His color is more Flemish than Italian, and his execution is most careful. He painted in oil and tempera.
Representative works :
” Last Judgment.” Church of Our Saviour, Antwerp.
” Pietà.” Museum, Brussels.
Altar-piece. Belvidere Gallery, Vienna.
Mary and Joseph adoring Infant Saviour.” Gallery, Dresden.
Cornelis Engelbrechsten (14681533) was influenced by the Van Eyck School, and was quite distinguished among his contemporaries.
Only one work that is surely his is in existence an altar-piece in the Town Hall of Leyden.
Lucas van Leyden (14941533), a pupil of Engelbrechsten, was a prolific artist, whose works display a good measure of ability.
In scenes illustrating common life he anticipated the coming Dutch School. His figures are considerably mannered and possess a coquettish air ; his aerial perspective and color are especially notable.
He is particularly famous for his fine engravings.
Good examples may be found in the museums of Leyden and Antwerp, and in the Old Pinacothek, Munich.
Lambert Sustermann, called Lambert Lombard (1506-1566), born at Liége, was a pupil of Mabuse. Afterward, going to Italy, he studied with Andrea del Sarto. Returning to Liége, he opened a large school and exerted great influence in diffusing the Italianized Flemish painting.
His figures are somewhat mannered, most carefully drawn, and very lightly shaded and colored, being little more than colored drawings.
His pictures are very rare and may be found in the museums of The Hague and Berlin, and in the National Gallery, London.
Other names of some note belonging to this period of Italianized Flemish painting are Lancelot Blondeel (14951561), who painted Italianized Flemish figures against Renaissance backgrounds ; Franz Floris (1520-1570), a pleasing portrait painter ; his pupil, Martin de Vos (15311603) ; and Otto Vaenius (1560-1629), historical painter.
Among those who may be called Dutch Flemish artists, born in Holland and influenced by the Flemings, are Pieter Pourbus (1510 ?-1584 ?) and Antonio Moro (1512 ?1578 ?), portrait painters ; the three Breughels, Pieter the Elder(1569), Pieter the Younger (1564?-1637?), and Jan (1568-1625), painters of landscape and genre ; and the Brill brothers, Matthew (1580) and Paul (1556-1626), landscape painters. The latter went to Italy and there painted and taught his own Flemish methods.
Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640), born in Siegen, is by far the greatest name in later Italianized Flemish art. After studying with native artists he went to Italy, visited and painted in many cities of that country, and on his return to Antwerp received commissions from all the chief European cities. His society and works were contended for by kings and princes ; he was invited by Marie de Médicis to come to Paris, where he celebrated her life in a series of colossal pictures; was knighted by Philip IV of Spain and by Charles I of England ; in short, enjoyed one of the most successful art careers ever known.
He was an all-round artist ; possessed energy and perseverance, a love for study and growth, a fine classic education that widened his field of subjects ; a breadth and command of technique unknown before him, and an intense love for color. His reputation was so great and widespread that he lacked neither sphere nor means for doing his best, so that in his work we find all that of which he was capable.
His pictures are very numerous, in the painting of many of which he was aided by pupils.
Characteristics. His creativeness, that greatest gift to artists, is largest in the history of art ; his invention is boundless.
His subjects are scriptural, historical, mythological, portrait, landscape, and animals.
In his religious pictures he followed the traditions of Catholic Italy. Yet there is very little that seems Christian in spirit when his work is compared with that of the greatest Italian masters; for his Madonnas, martyrs, and saints, his Christs and apostles, are devoid of all spiritual expression.
In many of his mythological pictures he paid little heed to the ideal heaven of mythology. Whether he represented Minerva, Juno, or Venus, Mercury or Paris, all are marked by an excess of animal life that overpowers all thought of dignity or sentiment. His Bacchanalian scenes represent not simply an exuberance of joy, but are coarse and repel-lent to every fine instinct.
In historical pictures he very often had not the slightest regard for the customary proprieties of time and place, but grouped together all kinds of personages, mythological and historical, ideal and real, divine and human, and fitted all surroundings to his own gorgeous conceptions.
His portraits are exceptionally fine, full of character, and powerful with latent action.
His landscapes, usually classic in theme, are noble. His paintings of animals, especially of wild animals of prey, are magnificently rendered.
One of his very strongest characteristics is the power of rendering dramatic action, and wherever this is found, in religious, mythological, or historical pictures, we feel that we are looking upon the work of a master. His composition is fine ; his drawing and light and shade are bold and true ; his coloring is most full and rich ; ” Does he mix blood with his paints ? ” asked Guido Reni on first seeing some of his pictures.
His technique is unsurpassed broad and firm. Most important works :
Elevation of the Cross,” ” Descent from the Cross ” (numbered among the twelve pictures sometimes called “World Pictures” 1). Cathedral, Antwerp.
” Crucifixion.” Museum, Antwerp.
“Last Judgment,” “Fall of Angels,” “Battle of the Amazons,” ” Rape of Daughters of Leukippos by Castor and Pollux,” “Drunken Silenus with Satyrs and Bacchante,” portraits of Rubens and his first wife, Isabella Brandt ; of second wife, Helena Fourment, and others ; “Lion Hunt.” Old Pinacothek, Munich.
” Quos Ego!” ” Lion Hunt,” many portraits. Gallery, Dresden. ” Ignatius Loyola casting out Devils,” “Francis Xavier preaching and working Miracles,” “Assumption of Virgin.” Belvidere. Gallery, Vienna.
“Raising of Lazarus,” ” Neptune and Amphitrite,” ” Perseus Liberating Andromeda,” ” Stag Hunt.” Museum, Berlin.
” Garden of Love ” and other pictures. Museum, Madrid.
Twenty-one pictures of the Life of Marie de Médicis, painted originally for the Palace of the Luxembourg, and portraits. Louvre, Paris.
” Judgment of Paris,” portraits, among which is the famous “Straw Hat,” animal pieces, and landscapes. National Gallery, London.
Franz Snyders (1579-1657), next to Rubens, is the greatest animal painter of his time. He sometimes painted the animals introduced into Rubens’ pictures, while that master reciprocated by painting the figures in Snyder’s works.
He also painted genre pictures, into which he loved to put game and vegetables.
His color and technique show the influence of Rubens. His reputation was very great and his pictures much sought for.
Representative works :
Combat between Bears and Dogs.” Museum, Berlin.
“Kitchen scene with game, etc.,” “Lionesses after Roebuck,” ” Boar Hunt.” Old Pinacothek, Munich.
” Kitchen scene ” (in which a man and woman cook were painted by Rubens), “Boar Hunt.” Gallery, Dresden.
” Stag Hunt ” and ” Boar Hunt.” Louvre, Paris.
Gaspar de Craeyer (15821669) painted in Brussels and Ghent. His work is usually marked by quiet composition, subdued color, considerable truth to nature, and a facility of technique that compares well with that of Rubens.
His chief subjects are Biblical ; he sometimes attempted historical and allegorical scenes, and in these there is considerable action. He also executed decorative painting.
His most important works are found in the galleries of Ghent and Brussels and in the Old Pinacothek, Munich.
Other names of some importance contemporary with Rubens are Abraham van Diepenbeck (15961675), who was strongly influenced by Rubens, and Lucas van Uden (15951672), landscape painter, who often painted the landscape backgrounds of Rubens’ pictures.
Anthony van Dyck (15991641) stands first among the actual pupils of Rubens, and is especially famous for his portrait painting, though in his early years he produced many religious pictures of high rank. His great ambition was to be a historical painter and to receive great commissions, as did Rubens, and the failure of this was a bitter disappointment.
His later life was spent in England, where he became court painter to Charles I ; here he painted a great number of portraits of the royalty and the nobility. His work degenerated somewhat during the last years of his life.
Characteristics. His feeling for nature is much more refined than that of Rubens, but he falls far below that master in scope of invention and force of representation.
His religious pictures are marked by intensity of expression and much elevation of sentiment. Into these he was fond of introducing child-angels.
His earliest pictures show a certain dependence on Rubens. The forms are strongly pronounced and have occasionally a clumsy look, while the faces are somewhat coarsely realistic, and the flesh tints are very warm.
His later works are marked by cooler color and a greater refinement of face and figure.
To his portraits he imparted a peculiar air of distinction ; his men, women, and children, all are aristocratic. The costumes of his time were favorable to the beauty of his art the broad, rich, falling collar with deep scallops of point lace, which has received the name of Van Dyck, the rich stuffs of garments, the broad hats with ostrich feathers, etc. ; as also the short face curls of his women and the pointed (” Van Dyck “) beards of his men.
The same type of long, slender hand appears always ; it is said to be a portrait of his own.
Most important works :
“Descent from Cross,” ” Crucifixion.” Museum, Antwerp.
“Crucifixion.” Cathedral, Mechlin.
“Repose in Egypt,” ” Descent from Cross,” portraits. Old Pinacothek, Munich.
” St. Jerome,” “Portrait of Henrietta Maria,” “Children of Charles I and Henrietta Maria,” and other portraits. Gallery, Dresden.
” Descent from Cross,” ” Three Penitents.” Museum, Berlin.
” Virgin and Child enthroned,” ” Portrait of Charles I.” Belvidere Gallery, Vienna.
” Children of Charles I ” (in which is the ” Stuart Baby,” made so familiar by reproductions after Canoveri’s copy in “St. Luke’s Academy,” Rome). Gallery, Turin.
“Virgin and Donators,” ” Portrait of Charles I,” ” Children of Charles I,” ” Portrait of Man and Child,” “Portrait of Woman and Child.” Louvre, Paris.
“Crucifixion,” “Equestrian Portrait of Charles I.” National Gallery, London.
Notable portraits in Windsor Castle, Warwick Castle, and other private galleries in England.
Jacob Jordaens (15931678) holds second place among Rubens’ pupils. He was a very prolific painter ; his subjects are Biblical, historical, mythological, allegory, and portrait. His Biblical pictures are seldom satisfactory.
His works are very strongly realistic, so much so as some-times to merit the term vulgar. Many are humorous. In technique and color he approaches Rubens.
The best of his religious pictures is “The Adoration of the Shepherds,” Museum, Antwerp.
His best mythological picture is ” Jupiter and Mercury” in Belvidere Gallery, Vienna. Here also is a characteristic picture, ” The Bean Feast.”
Other representative works are in Berlin Museum; Dresden Gallery ; Louvre, Paris; and Museum, Madrid.
David Teniers the Younger (1610-1690), of Antwerp, is one of the first important painters of the purely genre scenes which attained much celebrity at this time. ‘The artists who devoted themselves to the production of this style of painting received the name Little Masters. A much larger and stronger representation of this work appeared almost contemporaneously in Holland.
Teniers was instructed by his father, and was strongly influenced by Rubens.
His subjects are most varied : landscapes, cattle pieces, incantation scenes, guard houses, merry-makings out-of-doors and in, and tavern scenes ; the last being most frequently and perhaps most successfully treated.
He was a thoroughly equipped artist, and in his works we see picturesque composition, good drawing, exquisite harmony of low-toned color, and fine technique.
He used his pigment thinly, so thinly that in some of his most characteristic pictures much of the ground can be seen through it.
Two distinct styles of coloring are seen, one a pre-dominance of rich golden tones, the other of cool silvery ones.
His earlier pictures are large, his later small and most carefully finished.
Representative works :
” Peasant Wedding,” ” Fair ” (in which the artist and his family are represented). Belvidere Gallery, Vienna.
” Drinking Party,” ” Dinner of Monkeys,” ” Dutch Ale House, with Peasants dancing and playing Cards.” Old Pinacothek, Munich.
” Peasants smoking in Village Inn,” ” The Alchemist,” ” Peasants throwing Dice.” Gallery, Dresden.
” Village Festival” and others. Museum, Berlin.
” Prodigal Son,” ” Peasant Feast,” ” Guard-room with Peter denying Christ in the Background,” etc. Louvre, Paris.
” Village Fete,” ” The Surprise,” ” Backgammon Players.” National Gallery, London.
Adrian Brouwer (1606-1638), born in Flanders, properly belongs to this school, though he painted for a few years in Holland, where he was connected with Franz Hals. Later, returning to Flanders, he fell under the influence of Rubens.
His subjects are mostly low tavern scenes ; many of them represent quarrels and fights.
His methods of work and color are similar to those of Teniers.
He may be studied in Munich, where are about twenty of his pictures; in Dresden Gallery, Berlin Museum, and Louvre, Paris.
Other names of this time are Gonzales Coques (1618-1684), portrait painter, who strove to imitate Van Dyck ; Paul de Vos (1604-1678), Pieter Boel (1022-1702?), and Jan Fyt (1611-1661), animal painters; and Peter Snayers (1593167o ?), painter of military scenes.
BELGIAN ART
Later Flemish art, called Belgian art, is represented by Antony Wiertz (18o6-1865), whose eccentric productions may be studied in Wiertz Museum, Brussels ; Gustavus Wappers (1803-1874), who was influenced by the French Romantic School ; Jean Auguste Leys (1815-1869), a painter of many historical and national pictures ; Florent Willems (1823 ), a painter of fashionable genre ; Eugéne Joseph Verboeckhoven (1799-1881), animal painter ; Émile Wauters (1846), portrait and historical painter ; and, most important of all, Laurenz Alma-Tadema (1836-), for many years a resident of London, whose pictures are mostly representations of classic life, filled with oriental magnificence and luxury.
Examples are ” Phidias and the Elgin Marbles,” ” The Death of the First-born,” ” Sappho,” and ” Cleopatra.”