Ferdinand de Braekeleer the Elder

Ferdinand de Braekeleer was born in Antwerp on 12 February 1792, into a poor family. After his parents died, he was admitted to the school for orphans and children of poor parents established by the prominent Antwerp painter Mattheus Ignatius van Bree in Antwerp in 1807. At the school, de Brakeleer received artistic training as well as reading classes. De Bree rewarded good students with money and gifts. De Brakeleer was a good pupil and continued his education at the Royal Academy for Fine Arts of Antwerp where van Bree was also a teacher. He excelled as a pupil and received several prizes in 1809 and 1811. Ferdinand de Braekeleer was widowed in 1874 and his health declined rapidly. He managed to handle the brush until the end of his life, leaving unfinished a large painting of the Feast of St. Thomas, a subject he had treated many years before for the Belgian King, but his eye and hand were no longer able to serve his thoughts. Surrounded by his daughters, he died in Antwerp on 16 May 1883, at the age of 91. ==Work==

De Braekeleer is known for his paintings of genre scenes, church interiors, historic events, religious scenes, cityscapes, market scenes and market still lifes. He was also a talented printmaker and etcher who made various prints with genre scenes. He was appreciated for his talents as a colourist and draughtsman. He is particularly remembered for his genre paintings steeped in the spirit of the 17th-century Dutch and Flemish paintings of Jan Steen, van Ostade and David Teniers the Younger. Although his work was left behind by developments in the second half of the 19th century, he played an important role in reviving Belgian painting through the high quality of his genre works and his role as a teacher of the next generation of artists. == Pupils ==

Besides his sons, he tutored several other artists who became influential, including: • Louis Antoine Carolus • Hendrik Joseph Gommarus Carpentero • Adriaan Ferdinand De Braekeleer • François Antoine De Bruycker • Xavier De Cock • Joseph Dens • Robert van Eijsden • Willem Jodocus Mattheus Engelberts • Leopold Fisoette • Napoléon François Ghesquière • Paul Haesaert • Aloïs Pieter Paul Hunin • Jacob Jacobs • Johan Janssens • Edouard Knudden • Jan Baptist Lammens • Jan August Hendrik Leys • Petrus Marius Molijn • Florent Mols • Aimé Pez • Willem Rikkers • Louis Somers • Charles Venneman • Constant Wauters • Pierre-Joseph Witdoeck == Selected works ==

• Aeneas carrying Anchises from the fire of Troy, 1813 • The Healing of Tobit, 1819; current location unknown • St. Sebastian; • The citadel of Antwerp after the bombardment of 1832; Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp • Tavern scene with musicians, 1843 based on a work by Adriaen van Ostade • The Siege of Haarlem; Teylers Museum • Farmhouse with peasants, drawing. Schlossmuseum Weimar • Old hunter with young woman, 1867; private collection == References ==