Self-portrait Flanders
Balthasar Beschey
Antwerp 20.11.1708 — Antwerp 1776
Balthasar Beschey was a Flemish painter, draughtsman and decorative painter of interiors. He started his career as landscape painter but later on switched to history and portrait painting. Balthasar Beschey painted single as well as group portraits. He also produced a number of genre paintings. He often followed and even copied the work of Rubens and van Dyck in his history paintings and that of Jan Brueghel the Elder in his landscapes. He played a prominent role in the development of the Academy of Arts in Antwerp and as a teacher. Beschey is sometimes recognized for his signature style of using a checkered floor.
1708–1776
Willem Jacob Herreyns II
Antwerp 10.06.1743 — Antwerp 10.08.1827
Willem Jacob Herreyns, the Younger, was a Flemish painter of history subjects and portraits. He is regarded as one of the last painters in the tradition of the Flemish Baroque and the last follower of Peter Paul Rubens. Herreyns’ work was very highly regarded in his time. His religious compositions stand in the Rubens tradition. Herreyns is considered a draughtsman with a precise line, but his work shows a certain coldness and lacks originality.
1743–1827
Pieter-Jozef Verhaghen
Aarschot 19.03.1728 — Leuven 03.04.1811
Pieter-Jozef / Pierre-Joseph Verhaghenwas a Flemish painter of large-scale religious and mythological scenes. He is regarded as the last representative of the so-called Flemish School of painting. In particular, he is seen as continuing the artistic tradition of Flemish Baroque painting as exemplified by Rubens in the late 18th century and into the 19th century. He was highly regarded during his lifetime and enjoyed the patronage of eminent patrons and religious institutions. He was appointed first court painter to Empress Maria Theresa of Austria who also provided him a stipend to travel abroad to further his artistic studies.
1728–1811