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Cornelis Huysmans (baptized 2 April 1648 in Antwerp; died 1 June 1727 in
at the
Mechelen
Mechelen (; french: Malines ; traditional English name: MechlinMechelen has been known in English as ''Mechlin'', from where the adjective ''Mechlinian'' is derived. This name may still be used, especially in a traditional or historical contex ...
) was a Flemish
Flemish (''Vlaams'') is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Dutch ( ), or Southern Dutch (). Flemish is native to Flanders, a historical region in northern Belgium ...
landscape painter who was active in Antwerp, Brussels and Mechelen.Cornelis Huysmansat 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 ...
Huysmans held a foremost position in Flemish landscape painting in the late 17th and early 18th century and was particularly known for his pseudo-Italianate landscapes with mountains in the background, which show the influence of Nicolas Poussin
Nicolas Poussin (, , ; June 1594 – 19 November 1665) was the leading painter of the classical French Baroque style, although he spent most of his working life in Rome. Most of his works were on religious and mythological subjects painted for ...
and Jacques d'Arthois
Jacques d'Arthois (12 October 1613 (baptised) – May 1686) was a Flemish painter and tapestry designer who specialized in wooded landscapes with figures. He often depicted the woods around his native Brussels.
Upon the early death of his parents, his guardian sent him to study under the 
In 1688 Huysmans signed an agreement with the painters' guild of Mechelen, which allowed him to work as a painter in the city. He had to pay the guild 24 guilders and 14 stuivers for the privilege. In Mechelen Huysmans created the large-scale altarpiece ''The Road to Emmaus'' for the local Onze-Lieve-Vrouw-over-de-Dijle church in 1690. It is still ''in situ''. Possibly he later ran into some problems with the painters' guild in Mechelen as he moved back to Antwerp, where he was admitted as a master in the local
Life
Cornelis Huysmans was born in Antwerp to Hendrik Huysmans and Catharina van der Meyden (sometimes also referred to as 'Catharina van der Heyden').Frans Jozef Peter Van den Branden, ''Geschiedenis der Antwerpsche schilderschool'', Antwerpen, 1883, pp. 1077–1077 His father's profession has been variously described as that of a 'bouwmeester' (master builder) or that of a 'houtbreker, munter ende werckman in Sijne Majesteytsmunte' (wood breaker, coin maker and workman in His Majesty's Mint).
Upon the early death of his parents, his guardian sent him to study under the landscape painter
Landscape painting, also known as landscape art, is the depiction of natural scenery such as mountains, valleys, trees, rivers, and forests, especially where the main subject is a wide view—with its elements arranged into a coherent compo ...
Gaspar de Witte. After completing his studies with de Witte, Cornelis Huysmans moved to Brussels to continue his studies. He set up permanent residence in Brussels between 1675 and 1682 although he continued to visit his hometown Antwerp. He may have been a pupil or at least worked as an assistant in the studio of Jacques d'Arthois in Brussels. Huysmans worked for d'Arthois and drew landscapes from the Brussels area for two years. Around 1675 he did the same in the Meuse
The Meuse ( , , , ; wa, Moûze ) or Maas ( , ; li, Maos or ) is a major European river, rising in France and flowing through Belgium and the Netherlands before draining into the North Sea from the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta. It has a ...
valley near Dinant
Dinant () is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Namur, Belgium. On the shores of river Meuse, in the Ardennes, it lies south-east of Brussels, south-east of Charleroi and south of the city of Namur. Dinant is situa ...
and Namur
Namur (; ; nl, Namen ; wa, Nameur) is a city and municipality in Wallonia, Belgium. It is both the capital of the province of Namur and of Wallonia, hosting the Parliament of Wallonia, the Government of Wallonia and its administration.
Na ...
. In 1675 he was admitted as an independent master of the 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 id ...
in Brussels.Günther Meißner, K.G. Saur Verlag (Hrsg.): Allgemeines Künstlerlexikon. Die bildenden Künstler aller Zeiten und Völker. München, Leipzig: K.G. Saur, 1996 During a stay in Anwerp in 1681 the artist declared that he was at the time living in Brussels.
The following year Huysmans moved to Mechelen. Here he married on 26 January 1682 Maria Anna Scheppers. The couple had two sons and one daughter. His son Pieter Balthasar Huysmans, who was born on 7 January 1684, was trained by his father but died young in 1706. From about 1686 to 1688, Cornelis Huysmans stayed in London where he appears to have enjoyed the patronage of prominent members of society. He created several large format landscapes for the London market.
In 1688 Huysmans signed an agreement with the painters' guild of Mechelen, which allowed him to work as a painter in the city. He had to pay the guild 24 guilders and 14 stuivers for the privilege. In Mechelen Huysmans created the large-scale altarpiece ''The Road to Emmaus'' for the local Onze-Lieve-Vrouw-over-de-Dijle church in 1690. It is still ''in situ''. Possibly he later ran into some problems with the painters' guild in Mechelen as he moved back to Antwerp, where he was admitted as a master in the local Guild of St 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 iden ...
in the guild year 1706–7. He worked in Antwerp until 1716, the year in which he returned to Mechelen where he continued to work until his death in 1727.
He was the first teacher of his younger brother Jan Baptist (1654–1716), who also became a landscape painter, as well as of his son Pieter Balthasar. In Mechelen Augustus-Casimir Redel (August Casimir Redel or Ridel) and Jean Edmond Turner were his pupils.
Work
Cornelis Huysmans is mainly known for his landscape works although he also created some religious and history paintings. He worked withJacques d'Arthois
Jacques d'Arthois (12 October 1613 (baptised) – May 1686) was a Flemish painter and tapestry designer who specialized in wooded landscapes with figures. He often depicted the woods around his native Brussels.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 ...
, and in 1674 with Adam Frans van der Meulen
Adam Frans van der Meulen or Adam-François van der MeulenAdam Frans van der Meulen
at the
Huysmans' landscapes are characterised by their intensive and precise observations of nature, especially in his rendering of forests and trees. While there is some similarity with the Arcadian works of Poussin with their classical architecture, the major influence on the artist was Jacques d'Arthois. His highly decorative compositions often depict the edge of a forest with a sandy bank in the foreground. He often used a clearing to create a diagonal in his compositions. He used contrasts between colours and between the sharp light falling on roads and the dark hues of the tree trunks and foliage casting shadows to create a dramatic effect. His works were executed in bold brushstrokes. His use of similar compositional devices in his landscapes creates the impression of uniformity between his works.Émile Michel, ''Les Maîtres du paysage''
Hachette, Paris, 1906, p.71
Unlike Jacques d'Arthois, Huysmans bathed his landscapes in a warm, Italian light. The decidedly Mediterranean appearance was further emphasized through his choice of vegetation and architecture, which had a southern flavour. Huysmans thus succeeded in giving his landscapes an air of grandeur.
His works are in the collections of various museums including the Louvre in Paris (eight works), the
at the
Maastricht
Maastricht ( , , ; li, Mestreech ; french: Maestricht ; es, Mastrique ) is a city and a municipality in the southeastern Netherlands. It is the capital and largest city of the province of Limburg. Maastricht is located on both sides of the ...
.
Huysmans' landscapes are characterised by their intensive and precise observations of nature, especially in his rendering of forests and trees. While there is some similarity with the Arcadian works of Poussin with their classical architecture, the major influence on the artist was Jacques d'Arthois. His highly decorative compositions often depict the edge of a forest with a sandy bank in the foreground. He often used a clearing to create a diagonal in his compositions. He used contrasts between colours and between the sharp light falling on roads and the dark hues of the tree trunks and foliage casting shadows to create a dramatic effect. His works were executed in bold brushstrokes. His use of similar compositional devices in his landscapes creates the impression of uniformity between his works.Hachette, Paris, 1906, p.71
His works are in the collections of various museums including the Louvre in Paris (eight works), the Hermitage Museum
The State Hermitage Museum ( rus, Государственный Эрмитаж, r=Gosudarstvennyj Ermitaž, p=ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)ɨj ɪrmʲɪˈtaʂ, links=no) is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is the largest ...
in St. Petersburg, the Art Institute of Chicago
The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 mil ...
, the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister
The Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister (, ''Old Masters Gallery'') in Dresden, Germany, displays around 750 paintings from the 15th to the 18th centuries. It includes major Italian Renaissance works as well as Dutch and Flemish paintings. Outstand ...
in Dresden
Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth ...
, the National Gallery of Scotland
The Scottish National Gallery (formerly the National Gallery of Scotland) is the national art gallery of Scotland. It is located on The Mound in central Edinburgh, close to Princes Street. The building was designed in a neoclassical style by ...
in Edinburgh, the Musée Fabre
The Musée Fabre is a museum in the southern French city of Montpellier, capital of the Hérault ''département''.
The museum was founded by François-Xavier Fabre, a Montpellier painter, in 1825. Beginning in 2003, the museum underwent a 61.2 ...
in Montpellier, the Museum of modern art André Malraux - MuMa in Le Havre
Le Havre (, ; nrf, Lé Hâvre ) is a port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the river Seine on the Channel southwest of the Pays de Caux, ver ...
, the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp, the Musée des beaux-arts de Valenciennes and others.
References
External links
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Huysmans, Cornelis 1648 births 1727 deaths Flemish Baroque painters Flemish landscape painters Painters from Antwerp