Vincent de Vos or Joost Vincent de Vos (1829–1875) was a

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct language ...

artist who specialized in the painting of scenes with animals, in particular, monkeys, dogs and cats. He is particularly known for his singeries, i.e. paintings of monkeys imitating human behavior intended as a diverting satire of human behaviour.

Life

Vincent de Vos was born in

Kortrijk Kortrijk ( , ; or ''Kortrik''; ), sometimes known in English as Courtrai or Courtray ( ), is a Belgian City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region, Flemish Provinces of Belgium, province of We ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

in 1829, the son of Jan Eugene Vos, a miller, and Marie Anne Verhaeghe. He studied at the Academy of Kortrijk under Filip De Witte, a painter of portraits, genre scenes and biblical scenes. Edward Woutermaertens introduced him to the painting of animals. At the academy, his early works won medals for composition in 1848, drawing after antique sculpture in 1849, anatomy in 1851, and the gold medal for perspective in 1852. In 1870 he travelled to Italy where he spent time in the

Roman Campagna The Roman Campagna () is a low-lying area surrounding Rome in the Lazio region of central Italy, with an area of approximately . It is bordered by the Tolfa and Sabatini mountains to the north, the Alban Hills to the southeast, and the Tyrrh ...

. He eventually settled down in his home town Kortrijk, where he set up his studio. He kept a small menagerie with dogs, wolves, foxes, monkeys and even a camel. These were useful as the models for his works which consisted mainly of small sized paintings of animals. His work was successful commercially, and was exhibited primarily in

and

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

.Joos Vincent de Vos
, William Secord Gallery website, accessed 20 June 2010Broelmuseum Collection Highlights
, Stadt Kortrijk website, accessed 20 June 2010 He died in

on 5 October 1875.

Works

He painted principally dogs and monkeys, which he depicted with a lot of sense for psychology, and often in a rather humouristic way. Animals, particularly

monkey Monkey is a common name that may refer to most mammals of the infraorder Simiiformes, also known as simians. Traditionally, all animals in the group now known as simians are counted as monkeys except the apes. Thus monkeys, in that sense, co ...

s and

dog The dog (''Canis familiaris'' or ''Canis lupus familiaris'') is a domesticated descendant of the gray wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it was selectively bred from a population of wolves during the Late Pleistocene by hunter-gatherers. ...

s, were frequent subjects of his work. He often depicted animals in circus costume. The paintings typically are small in size, and dates, titles and signatures often are hidden as box labels or in posters depicted in the work. De Vos, together with the brothers

Emmanuel Noterman Emmanuel Noterman (April 1808 – 14 May 1863) was a Belgians, Belgian painter and printmaker known for his genre scenes, in particular his scenes with monkeys engaging in human activities (the so-called ''singeries''), as well as for his paintin ...

and

Zacharie Noterman Zacharie Noterman or Zacharias Notermann (1820 in Ghent – 1890 in Paris) was a Belgians, Belgian painter and printmaker who specialized in scenes with monkeys engaging in human activities (the so-called ''singeries''), as well as in paintings o ...

, was one of the principal 19th century Belgian painters of animal scenes with monkeys and dogs. Like those two artists, he created a number of '' singeries'', i.e. paintings of monkeys engaging in human activities.

Selected works

His works include: *Circus monkey and dog *At the market *Rest after the hunt *A Blenheim and a Tricolour King Charles Spaniel on a Persian *Two dogs by the doghouse *At play *Best friends *A terrier smoking a pipe *Dog meets mice, 1865

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Vos, Joost-Vincent de 1820s births 1875 deaths 19th-century Belgian painters Belgian male painters 19th-century Belgian male artists Belgian painters of animals Belgian satirists Dog artists Cat artists