François Duchatel

François Duchatel or du Chastel (1616/1625–1679/1694) was a Flemish painter who worked in Brussels and possibly also in Paris. He is known for his portraits, including of children and groups and genre paintings, including of peasant subjects, tavern interiors and guardroom scenes.François Duchatel
at the Netherlands Institute for Art History He also painted a few large views of historical events and religious scenes.François Duchatel, ''Charles V after his abdication embarking on a ship bound for Spain in the port of Vlissingen, Zeeland''
at Lawrence Steigrad Fine Arts

Life

Little is known about his life, He was likely born in Brussels between 1616 and 1625. Some sources report that he initially served in the cavalry but let this profession after he witnessed the death of his best friend at his side during a battle.Ad. Siret, ''Duchatel, François'' in: Biographie nationale de Belgique, Volume 6, p. 224-227 It is only then at the age of 27 that he chose the career of an artist. It was traditionally believed that he was a pupil of David Teniers the Younger likely because his paintings of village feasts show some ressamblance with works of that master. There are no records that corroborate such an apprenticeship.François Duchatel, ''Portrait de la famille Janssens''
at Artcurial He is also mentioned as a pupil of the Antwerp painter Gaspar de Crayer, a native of Antwerp who had moved to Brussels in the early 17th century where he had become a member of the local Guild of Saint Luke in 1607.Hans Vlieghe. "Crayer, Gaspar de." Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online Oxford University Press, Web 16 May 2020. De Crayer was known for his Counter-Reformation altarpieces and portraits.

In 1649 he married Jeanne Louys with whom he had seven children. Their eldest daughter became a portrait painter and miniaturist who had an international career. She married the Dutch painter Eglon van der Neer. In January 1654 Gaspar de Crayer and Duchatel sign a contract with the Averbode Abbey to paint a ''The confession of faith of St. Norbert and the brothers of his order on the Christmas night of 1120''.

Some authors state that Duchatel went to Paris where he worked as assistant to the Flemish battle painter Adam Frans van der Meulen. Van der Meulen was a court painter and working under Charles Lebrun on various royal decoration projects as well on designs for the Gobelins Manufactory, the royal tapestry workshop. A number of Flemish artists had been invited to Paris to assist on these projects. There is no documentary evidence that supports Duchatel's presence in Paris or in the entourage of van der Meulen.

His pupils included John Baptist Medina, who became a successful portrait painter in Scotland, and his daughter Marie Duchatel, a miniature painter.

Work

The known work of Duchatel is quite limited. Very few works by the artist are signed and only several others fully documented. Duchatel's portraits are regularly misattributed to other portrait painters of his time such as Gillis van Tilborgh, Charles Emmanuel Biset, Jacob van Oost, and Gonzales Coques. His small family portraits and conversation pieces are close to those of Gonzales Coques, an artist who is referred to as the 'little van Dyck' because of his artistic proximity to and emulation with Anthony van Dyck.Ursula Härting, ''Review of Marion Lisken-Pruss, Gonzales Coques (1614-1684). Der kleine Van Dyck (Pictura Nova. Studies in 16th- and 17th- Century Flemish Painting and Drawing XIII). Turnhout: Brepols 2013. 495 pp, 29 col. pls, 120 b&w illus. '', in: historians of netherlandish art, Newsletter and Review of Books Vol. 30, No. 2, November 2013, p. 46-47

He painted genre subjects that were popular in his time. This included guardroom scenes, i.e. paintings that depict officers and soldiers engaged in merrymaking in an interior. These scenes often included mercenaries and prostitutes dividing booty, harassing captives or indulging in other forms of reprehensible activities. This genre was popular in the mid-17th century, particularly in the Dutch Republic. In Flanders there were also a few practitioners of the genre including David Teniers the Younger, Abraham Teniers, Anton Goubau, Cornelis Mahu and Jan Baptist Tijssens the Younger'' by Duchatel in the Musée Jeanne d'Aboville depicts a guardroom with some soldiers sitting around a round table gambling and smoking. On the right side of the room there are pieces of armour on the floor, a war standard leaning against a wall and various swords hanging from a wall. The armour depicted in the two pictures was already out of date at the time it was painted since metal armours, breast plates and helmets fell out of use from the 1620s. It is possible that in line with the moralizing intent of the genre, the armour is a reference to the vanitas motif of the transience of power and fame.

Some of his most original works depict important historical events on large canvases with many figures. This includes 'The Inauguration of Charles II, King of Spain, as Count of Flanders, in 1666 in Ghent' ) (Museum of Fine Arts, Ghent). It is dated 1668. Around the same time Lucas Vorsterman II engraved a plate after a design by Jacob van Werden

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