Jacques Rosseels (1828 - 1912)

Jacques Rosseels

Jacques Rosseels or Jacobus Cornelis Rosseels, is a landscape painter and art theoretician who, later in his career, became chief inspector of the Belgian drawing academies and schools. In 1861 he met Isidore Meyers in Calmpthout, who was a close friend of Adrien-Joseph Heymans. Around these three artists, was born the School of Calmpthout, also known as the Gray School. They met regularly at the inn "De Keizer" in Wechelderzande, which is why they are sometimes also called members of the School of Wechelderzande. It was not a structured style movement, but the gray tones were the hallmark of Flemish pleinairism. These gray painters created a typical landscape style that would long be imitated. He is among the first to have rid his palette of dark and bituminous tones, dear to Antwerp education. With its chalky tones and its subjects painted in the open air, it announces Belgian Impressionism.