Joseph van Bredael - A village with a windmill

Jozef van Bredael, Joseph van Bredael, or Josef van Bredael (14 August 1688 – 2 April 1739) was a Flemish painter known for Italianate landscapes and

genre Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other ...

scenes of fairs, cattle markets and villages. He worked in his final years in France.Joseph van Bredael
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 ...

Life

Jozef van Bredael was born into an artist family in Antwerp as the second son of

Joris van Bredael Joris van Bredael (1 January 1661 – c. 1706) was a Flanders, Flemish painter known for his battle scenes and vedute, cityscapes representing some popular celebration or feast.

and Johanna Maria van Diepenbeeck.Wilhelmus Johannes Franciscus Juten, G. C. A. Juten, ''Taxandria'', Volume 7
1900, p. 184 His father as well as his grandfather

Peeter van Bredael Pieter van Bredael or Peeter van Bredael (1629–1719) was a Flemish painter specializing in market scenes and village feasts set in Italianate landscapes or contemporary, usually, urban environments. Life Pieter van Bredael was born in Antwer ...

were painters. His uncles Jan Frans van Bredael and Jan Peeter van Bredael the Elder were also painters. His mother was the daughter of the prominent Baroque painter

Abraham van Diepenbeeck Abraham van Diepenbeeck (9 May 1596 (baptised) – between May and September 1675) was Dutch painter of the Flemish School. Biography Van Diepenbeeck was baptised in 's-Hertogenbosch. After having received a classical education, he beca ...

.Walther Bernt, ''The Netherlandish painters of the seventeenth century, Volume 1'', Phaidon, 1970, p. 19 His brother Jan Peeter was also a painter who had a successful career in Vienna. Jozef trained under his father. Joseph van Bredael - A village scene on the banks of a river

Joseph van Bredael - A village scene on the banks of a river

In 1706 Jozef van Bredael and his cousin Jan Frans entered into a contract with the Antwerp art dealer Jacob de Witte to produce copies after the paintings of

Philips Wouwerman Philips Wouwerman (also Wouwermans) (24 May 1619 (baptized) – 19 May 1668) was a Dutch painter of hunting, landscape and battle scenes. Life and work Philips Wouwerman was one of the most versatile and prolific artists of the Dutch Golden Ag ...

and

Jan Brueghel the Elder Jan Brueghel (also Bruegel or Breughel) the Elder (, ; ; 1568 – 13 January 1625) was a Flemish painter and draughtsman. He was the son of the eminent Flemish Renaissance painter Pieter Bruegel the Elder. A close friend and frequent collabora ...

for a number of years. Under the contract, Jozef was to receive for each copy he produced 6 guilders in the first year, 8 guilders in the second and 10 guilders in the third and fourth years plus a bonus of 1 shilling. At the end of the contract he would also get a blue coat. Jan Frans was paid a marginally higher fee as he was more experienced than his 18-year cousin but Jan Frans was also bound by an exclusivity obligation to work only for Jacob de Witte. Since they did not sign the copies, it is not possible to distinguish who was responsible for individual copies. It is possible that the not so scrupulous art dealer de Witte even sold these copies as originals since the copies were such good imitations of the style of the original artists.Ad. Siret, ''BREDAEL, Jean-François VAN''
in Biographie nationale de Belgique Jozef was originally contracted to work for de Witte for a period of four years but he may have worked for him for a longer period. Joseph van Bredael - A mountainous landscape with a figure reading before a cottage

Joseph van Bredael - A mountainous landscape with a figure reading before a cottage

It is not clear when he moved to France. There is mention of him going to France to work in 1725. Here he worked as a copyist and made several copies after

Claude Lorrain Claude Lorrain (; born Claude Gellée , called ''le Lorrain'' in French; traditionally just Claude in English; c. 1600 – 23 November 1682) was a French painter, draughtsman and etcher of the Baroque Painting, Baroque era. He spent most ...

for Jean-François Leriget de La Faye, an important French art collector.Rochelle Ziskin, ''Sheltering Art: Collecting and Social Identity in Early Eighteenth-century Paris'', Penn State Press, 2012, p. 100 Other historians state that Jozef only moved to France in 1735 or 1736 after he had completed the paperwork related to the inheritance of his brother Jan Peeter who had died in Vienna. He had appointed the Flemish painter

Frans van Stampart Frans van Stampart (born in Antwerp 12 June 1675 – died 3 April 1750 in Vienna) was a Flemish portrait painter, printmaker and publisher. The artist established a reputation as a portraitist of European rulers, aristocrats and higher clergy. ...

, a court painter in Vienna, to act as the administrator of his brother’s estate. In France he became a member of the Royal Academy of the court of

Louis d'Orléans, Duke of Orléans Louis may refer to: * Louis (coin) * Louis (given name), origin and several individuals with this name * Louis (surname) * Louis (singer), Serbian singer * HMS ''Louis'', two ships of the Royal Navy See also Derived or associated terms * Lewis (d ...

.Jozef van Bredael, Village animated with people
, at De Jonckheere Master paintings He never married and likely died in Paris in 1739.

Work

Joseph Bredael painted mostly landscapes and battles and made both copies and pastiches of compositions of 17th-century painters who were still popular in the 18th century such as Jan Brueghel the Elder, Philips Wouwerman and Claude.D. H. van Wegen, ''Het Vlaamse schilderkunst boek'', Waanders, 2005, p. 220 Josef van Bredael - Harbour scene with a windmill

Josef van Bredael - Harbour scene with a windmill

As he signed his paintings with the monogram JB, like Jan Brueghel, there have been a number of erroneous attributions of his work to Jan Breughel the Elder. Jozef van Bredael had copied many Brueghelian compositions and was thus inspired by their style. He interpreted the Brueghelian idiom through the aesthetics of his day and added a personal note to the contours of his figures and his strokes. Van Bredael’s quality of execution and delicate naturalism placed him amongst the best followers and imitators of Jan Brueghel the Elder, alongside

Peeter Gijsels Peeter Gijsels or Pieter Gijsels (1621, Antwerp – 1690, Antwerp), was a Flemish Baroque painter. He is known for his landscapes, architectural compositions and still lifes.Théobald Michau and

Mathys Schoevaerdts Mathys Schoevaerdts or Matthijs Schoevaerdts (c. 1665/1667 – after 1702) was a Flemish painter, draughtsman and printmaker. He is known mainly for his Landscape art, landscapes with trees, marines and genre art, genre scenes.

. He paid particular attention to detail, meticulously executing his figures and décor in the style of a miniaturist. He was able to create the illusion of a succession of planes in his compositions through the use of lateral screens and a subtle and nuanced palette, which tended towards tones of dominant blues and browns, though always gentle and subtle. He executed his successful compositions in many, almost identical versions as is shown by the two versions of a ''Village with a windmill'',

one 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...

of which sold by Christie’s on 4 July 2012 in London, lot 148 and the

other Other often refers to: * Other (philosophy), a concept in psychology and philosophy Other or The Other may also refer to: Film and television * ''The Other'' (1913 film), a German silent film directed by Max Mack * ''The Other'' (1930 film), a ...

of which was sold by De Jonckheere Master paintings.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bredael, Jozef van Artists from Antwerp Flemish landscape painters Flemish genre painters 18th-century Flemish painters 1668 1739 deaths 1688 births