Ferdinand de Braekeleer

FERDINAND DE BRAEKELEER (Belgium, 1792-1883).
"Tavern scene".1860.
Oil on panel.
Signed and dated in the lower margin.
Measurements: 33 x 41 cm; 57 x 65 cm (frame).

In this animated composition, Ferdinand de Braekeler, master of the Flemish costumbrismo of the XIX century, deploys all his narrative ingenuity and his fine observation of the daily life. The scene takes place in front of a rural tavern, where a man and a woman are engaged in a burlesque episode by swinging on a board placed on a barrel, as an improvised swing. The heavier woman remains on the ground while her companion rises into the air; she, with an accusing gesture, points to him as the culprit, while both show their faces lit up and a cheerful attitude that suggests they have had too much to drink.

Around them, the life of the town stops to watch: the parishioners seated in front of the tavern observe the scene with amusement, others peek curiously through the windows, and a dog trots expectantly, attentive to the outcome of the game. Behind the protagonists, a tavern keeper with apron and jug in hand contemplates the scene, reinforcing the choral character of the composition.

Braekeler shows his mastery of warm and luminous color, of expressive gesture without reaching caricature, and of the meticulously detailed popular setting, in a painting that combines humor, dynamism and social realism.

Ferdinand de Braekeleer was an outstanding Flemish painter and engraver, known especially for his genre scenes of everyday life, as well as for his historical, religious and urban landscape paintings. He is called "the Old Man" to distinguish him from his son, also a painter.

Born into a humble family in Antwerp in 1792, he was orphaned and was admitted to the school for poor children established by the painter Mattheus Ignatius van Bree. He continued his training at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, where van Bree was also a teacher. In 1813 he won the painting prize at the Antwerp Salon with the work Aeneas Saving Anchises from the burning of Troy. In 1819 he won the Dutch Prix de Rome in the category of historical painting, which allowed him to travel to Italy (Rome, Naples, Venice) to perfect his art.

After his return to Antwerp, he focused on works inspired by the Flemish Old Masters, including historical and genre scenes reminiscent of artists such as Jan Steen and David Teniers the Younger. His painting "The Antwerp Citadel after the Bombardment of 1832" won him wide recognition for its contemporary subject matter.
In 1827 he married Marie-Thérèse Leys, sister of the painter Jan August Hendrik Leys, who later studied with him. Two of his sons, Ferdinand the Younger and Henri de Braekeleer, also became painters. He achieved international recognition with works such as The Schoolmistress and The 50th Wedding Anniversary. He was made a knight of the Order of Leopold and a member of the Royal Academy of Belgium. He was a co-founder of the Antwerp Artists' Association and, from 1855, became a professor at the Antwerp Academy. In 1864 he was appointed curator of the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp. De Braekeleer played a pivotal role in the renewal of 19th-century Belgian painting, both through the high quality of his genre works and through his influential role as a teacher of the next generation of artists. He died in Antwerp in 1883 at the age of 91.