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Henri Jean Augustin de Braekeleer

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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HENRI JEAN AUGUSTIN DE BRAEKELEER (1840-1888), Belgian painter, was born at Antwerp. He was trained by his father, a genre painter, and his uncle, Baron Henri Leys, and devoted himself to scenes of everyday Antwerp life. The first pictures he exhibited, "The Laundry" (Van Cutsem collection, Brussels), and "The Coppersmith's Workshop" (Vleeshovwer collection, Antwerp), were shown at the Antwerp exhibition in 1861. He received the gold medal at Brussels in 1872 for "The Geographer" and "The Lesson" (both in the Brussels gallery); the gold medal at Vienna in 1873 for "The Painter's Studio" and "Grandmother's Birthday"; and the medal of honour at the Exposition Universelle at Amsterdam for "The Pilot House." Among his more notable works are "A Shoemaker" (1862), "A Tailor's Workroom" (1863), "A Gardener" (1864, Antwerp gallery), "Interior of a Church" (1866), "Interior, Flanders" (1867), "Woman spinning" (1869), "Man reading" (1871), "The rue du Serment, Antwerp" (1875), "A Copperplate Printer," "The Sailor's Return," "The Man at the Window" (Couteaux collection, Brussels), "The Horn-blower" (Couteaux collection), "Man retouching a Picture" (Couteaux collection), "The Potters" (Marlier collection, Brussels), "Staircase in the Hydraulic House at Antwerp" (Marlier collection), and "The Brewer's House at Antwerp" (Marlier collection). The last, better known as "A Man sitting," is generally regarded as his masterpiece. As a lithographer and etcher, his work resembles that of Henri Leys. Towards the end of his life de Braekeleer did some dot painting ( pointillisme ), in which he achieved admirable effects of light.