Matthias de Visch or Matthijs de Visch (22 March 1701 in

Reninge Reninge is a town in north-west Belgium in the province of West Flanders with approximately 1,000 inhabitants. Since the reforms of 1977, it is located in the municipality of Lo-Reninge and is part of the Arrondissement of Diksmuide. Its postcode ...

– 23 April 1765 in

Bruges Bruges ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders, in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is in the northwest of the country, and is the sixth most populous city in the country. The area of the whole city amoun ...

) was a Flemish painter of

history painting History painting is a genre in painting defined by its subject matter rather than any artistic style or specific period. History paintings depict a moment in a narrative story, most often (but not exclusively) Greek and Roman mythology and B ...

s and

portrait A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face is always predominant. In arts, a portrait may be represented as half body and even full body. If the subject in full body better r ...

s.Matthias de Visch
at the

Netherlands Institute for Art History The Netherlands Institute for Art History or RKD (Dutch: ), previously Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie (RKD), is located in The Hague and is home to the largest art history center in the world. The center specializes in document ...

Life

He was a pupil of Joseph van den Kerckhove in Bruges. To continue his artistic training, he travelled to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

and

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, returning in 1732. He gave art lessons at his home from 1735 and played a key role in the reopening of the Bruges Academy of Art in 1739. He acted as its director from then until his death. Jean Garemyn
in: Michael Bryan, Dictionary of painters and engravers, biographical and critical (Google eBook), 1849 The Academy played a pioneering role in promoting neoclassicism in the Southern Netherlands.Virginie D'haene, ''Bruges Artists Abroad: Neoclassicist Drawings in the Printroom of the Groeningemuseum''
in: Codart eZine Summer 2014 In 1737 he married Petronilla Iweins.Dominiek Dendooven & Joël Snick, ''Matthijs De Visch, (met proeve van volledige inventaris van de schilderwerken door Matthijs de Visch)'', Davidsfonds Reninge, 2001. His pupils included

Jean Garemyn Jan Anton Garemyn (or Garemijn) (1712-1799), a Flemish painter and engraver, was born at Bruges, and studied under Louis Boons and Matthias de Visch. He painted numerous altar-pieces for the churches at Bruges and Courtrai; and others for priva ...

, Paul de Cock, Pieter (I) Pepers, Jacques de Rijcke, and

Joseph-Benoît Suvée Joseph-Benoît Suvée (3 January 1743 – 9 February 1807) was a Flemish painter strongly influenced by French neo-classicism. Biography Suvée was born in Bruges. Initially a pupil of Matthias de Visch, he came to France aged 19 and bec ...

Work

De Visch painted diverse subjects, but is primarily known for his religious scenes and portraits. His style has a late-

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

character, but can be regarded a transitional to the

rococo Rococo, less commonly Roccoco ( , ; or ), also known as Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and dramatic style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpte ...

in particular in his use of soft tones.

References

External links

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The Bruges academy in the 18th century
1701 births 1765 deaths Neoclassical painters Painters from Bruges 18th-century Flemish painters {{Flemish-painter-stub