François Stroobant

François Stroobant: “Court of Margaret of Austria in Mechelen ”, oil on canvas, 1855

François Stroobant ( Flemish [ˈstʁoːbɐnt] / French [stʀoːˈbɑ̃] ), sometimes also called Vaporeau , (born June 14, 1819 in Brussels ; † June 1, 1916 in Elsene ) was a Belgian painter , engraver , draftsman , lithographer , watercolorist and illustrator . He created mainly landscape, city and building views, as well as architectural draft drawings in the style of " Romantic Realism ".

Life

Stroobant was born the third of four children of the waiter Pieter Stroobant (1784-1855) and his wife Joanna Catherina de Raeymaeker. His eldest brother Louis-Constantin Stroobant (1814–1872) was later head of a lithographic printing company in Ghent .

In 1835, at the age of 16, he began working in the Dewasme-Plétinckx lithography studio in Brussels, where he was trained by the painter Paul Lauters (1806–1875). From 1832 to 1847 he studied at the “Brussels Academy of Fine Arts” with its rector François-Joseph Navez (1787–1869), neoclassical painting, primarily religious subjects, and historical portraiture with Paul Lauters. In addition, he attended lectures by François Bossuet (1798–1889), a then well-known painter of wide cityscapes, which was decisive for Stroobant's later career, as it became his specialty alongside landscape representations. He traveled through many European countries, including during his student days: the Netherlands , France , Germany (1860, 1884), Austria-Hungary (views of Prague ), Switzerland , Italy , Spain , Poland ( Cracow , Wawel Church, König Palace Kasimir the Great , Treasury; 1859). He made pencil sketches , drawings and occasionally watercolors on site, which he then meticulously used as templates for lithographs, copper engravings and oil paintings on returning to his studio. He also carried out commissioned works on a larger scale, including wall paintings with predominantly Belgian cityscapes such as the City Hall of Brussels and the Episcopal Palace of Liège as motifs in the Guild Hall in London . In Brussels, some public institutions are adorned with his works, including wall paintings.

Stroobant married Adeline Genis on May 29, 1849 (born June 30, 1830 in Brussels, † July 16, 1908 in Elsene) in Brussels. The couple had eight children over the course of 18 years, initially six daughters, then two sons. Daughter Marguerite, the sixth child, was the only one to follow in the footsteps of the then famous father and became a still life painter .

In 1850 he began to publish representative views of Belgium in “Le Magasin pittoresque” (founded in 1833 by the writer and lawyer Edouard Charton) and Le Juif errant (Belgian edition), later came city views of Ostend (1847), Ghent, Antwerp , Brussels, and Liège , Spa , Bruges (1884). Several works (e.g .: François Stroobant, Felix Stappaerts: Le Brabant et Les Flandres, Anvers, Liège et le Hainaut ) and publications contained his illustrations. From Germany he made several views of the Harz , lithographs and watercolor pencil drawings of the Rhine region (e.g. Rheinfels Castle , St. Goar with the old Rhine crane from 1658). Many of his (color) lithographs were published by Simonau & Toovey in Brussels by Charles Muquardt (one of his main works: “Rhin monumental et pittoresque” (“Monumental and picturesque Rhine”), 1854, 30 lithographs).

In 1865, François Stroobant founded the “Académie de Molenbeek Saint-Jean” in Brussels and became its first director. In 1878 he was appointed "Officer of the Leopold Order " (after King Leopold I of Belgium ; French "Officier de l'Ordre de Léopold"). He worked as an artist until the 1880s.

He died very old in 1916 at the age of 97. In the municipality of Ukkel (3 km south of the center) of his hometown Brussels, a street is named after him - François Stroobantstraat - Rue François Stroobant.

literature

• René van Bastelaer: François Stroobant. In: Biography Nationale de Belgique . Volume 24: Steyaert – Thimus. Bruylant, Brussels 1929, col. 187-188 ( academieroyale.be PDF).
• Stroobant, François . In: Hans Vollmer (Hrsg.): General lexicon of fine artists from antiquity to the present . Founded by Ulrich Thieme and Felix Becker . tape 32 : Stephens – Theodotos . EA Seemann, Leipzig 1938, p. 206 .
• Louis Stroobant, Jan Lindemans: Oude Brabantse geslachten. Volume 14, Stroobant, Merchtem 1943.
• Emmanuel Bénézit : Dictionnaire des peintres, sculpteurs, dessinateurs et graveurs. Librairie Gründ, Paris 1999, Volume IX, ISBN 2-7000-3010-9 .
• Paul Piron: De Belgische beeldende kunstenaars uit de 19de en 20ste eeuw. Art in Belgium, Brussels 1999, ISBN 90-76676-01-1 .
• Wim & Greet Pas: Biographical Lexicon Plastic Art in België. Signs - beeldhouwers - grafici; 1830-2000. De Gulden Roos, Antwerp 2000, ISBN 90-76138-02-8 .
• Jaak A. Rau: Brugse stadsgezichten. Marc Van de Wiele, Bruges 1996, ISBN 90-6966-112-8 .
• Jany Zeebroek-Hollemans: Stroobant François. In: Le Dictionnaire des Peintres belges du XIVe siècle à nos jours depuis les premiers maîtres des anciens Pays-bas méridionaux et de la Principauté de Liège jusqu'aux artistes contemporains. La Renaissance du Livre, Brussels 1995, ISBN 2-8041-2012-0 , p. 938.

Web links

Commons : François Stroobant  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Short biography (Belgian)
• Lithography collection of the University of Liège
• St. Goar with the old Rhine crane
• Wawel Church in Krakow , 1859