Eugène Siberdt

EUGÈNE SIBERDT (Antwerp, 1851-1931).
"Hunter".
Oil on canvas.
Signed.
Measurements: 230 x 137 cm; 250 x 160 cm (frame).

The magnanimous hunter portrayed poses proudly next to his prey, an antlered and beautifully furred deer lying dead at his feet. The hunter's fashionable attire, as well as the careful detailing of his concentrated face, are evidence of Siberdt's superb technique. The brownish and greenish tonalities place us in a humid American forest landscape. The work is resolved with a skillful naturalistic language, both in the psychological capture and in the landscape notes.

Eugène Siberdt was a Belgian painter of academic and late romantic style, specialized in portraits, historical scenes, literary themes and orientalist painting, characterized by his precision in drawing and careful compositions; Trained at the Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, where he later became a professor, he achieved recognition as a portraitist -even of the court- and participated in important art salons, being today also remembered for his confrontation with Vincent van Gogh in 1886, which symbolizes the clash between the traditional academic art he defended and the new modern currents represented by the Dutch painter.