#belgian painter

[solcattus]

Maria van Bourgondië, c. 1889

By Albrecht De Vriendt

[sardosycserokyric]

William Degouve de Nuncques, The black swan, 1896, pastel on paper.

[artemlegere]

The Twelve Princesses

Artist: Gustave-Max Stevens (Belgian, 1871-1946)

Date: 1899

Medium: Oil on canvas

Collection: M.S. Raw Antiques, New Orleans, Louisiana, United States

The fairy tale "The Twelve Princesses," also called "The Shoes That Were Danced to Pieces", tells the story of twelve sisters who are kept locked up in their bedroom every night by their father, the king. Despite this, the king finds his daughters’ shoes “danced to pieces” every morning when he releases them. He presents a challenge to his kingdom: “Whoever could discover where they went dancing each night could choose one of them for his wife and become king after his death.” After many before him fail, a man accepts the challenge and, with the help of an invisibility cloak, discovers the sisters travel to a magical underground realm where they attend a lavish ball every evening.

Stevens chooses to depict the moment of the sisters' escape. They adorn themselves in their finest gowns and jewels, with each princess dressed more extravagantly than the last.

[portrait-paintings]

Portait of Mrs Gustave-Max Stevens

Artist: Gustave-Max Stevens (Belgian, 1871-1946)

Date: 1897

Medium: Oil on canvas

Collection: Museum of Fine Arts, Ghent, Belgium

[galleryofart]

At the Railway Station

Artist: Alfred Stevens (Belgian, 1823-1906)

Date: c. 1874

Medium: Oil on panel

Collection: Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States

[paintingsandhistory]

Boccaccio Reading the Decameron to Joanna of Naples

Artist: Egide Charles Gustave, Baron Wappers (Belgian, 1803-1874)

Date: 1849

Medium: Oil on canvas

Collection: Private Collection

Description

In this impressive work, de Wappers depicts Boccaccio reading the Decameron to Joanna of Naples. Joanna, Countess of Provence and Queen of Naples (1343-82), was the beautiful and intelligent patron of poets and scholars, who defended the claim of the house of Anjou to the throne of Naples following the death of her grandfather Robert, King of Naples, in 1343. Under King Robert, Naples had enjoyed a period of prosperity and had become a centre for literature and art.

Boccaccio's name and the title of his most famous work, the Decameron, can be see on the pages of parchment in his lap. Completed between 1348 and 1353, the Decameron, had an enormous impact on the history of European literature, serving as the inspiration for the whole genre of the 'novella' and as the model for other framed story collections, such as Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.

[mythologypaintings]

The Nymph Salmacis and Hermaphrodite

Artist: François-Joseph Navez (Belgian, 1787-1869)

Date: 1829

Medium: Oil on canvas

Collection: Museum of Fine Arts, Ghent, Belgium

Description

The story of Salmacis and Hermaphroditus is a chapter in Ovid’s Metamorphoses. The nymph Salmacis fell in love with Hermaphroditus, Hermes and Aphrodite’s son. Hermaphroditus rejected her but Salmacis managed to outwit him in the water. Yet again Hermaphroditus rejected her, so Salmacis prayed to the gods that she would be united with him until the end of time. They fused into a hermaphroditic creature, with male and female characteristics.

François-Joseph Navez depicts the nymph and the object of her affection just before the metamorphosis. Hermaphroditus’s reticent gesture and the passionate embrace by the infatuated nymph constitute an ingenious and elegant ballet in an almost abstract play of lines.

[artandthebible]

Holy Family with the Infant Saint John the Baptist

Artist: François Joseph Navez (Belgian, 1787-1869)

Date: 1848

Medium: Oil on panel

Collection: Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp, Belgium