Eugène Delacroix

Young Turk embraces his Horse

around 1825
Oil on canvas

Eugène Delacroix was very early on recognised as a leader of the Romantic movement and typified the artist of the 19th century. In paintings such as this one, he familiarised himself – seven years before he travelled to North Africa – with oriental subjects. His journey answered his quest for primal unadulteratedness and represented a turning point in his career. Delacroix captured his impressions in notebooks, which inspired his imagination and subsequently served as templates for several of his later works, including Passage d’un gué au Maroc, an extremely dynamic composition, which skilfully draws attention to orientally clothed riders.

Eugène-Joseph Verboeckhoven

Animals in the Pasture

1844
Oil on wood
Collection Jean-Pierre Pescatore

The Belgian painter Eugène Joseph Verboeckhoven kept a large atelier in Brussels where he primarily painted animal pieces. His Belgian landscapes featuring cows, sheep and donkeys were especially well received by the public. His works were highly cherished for their careful and detailed depictions. He sometimes lent the animals almost human features. He claimed great success with his works in the 1850s, but later they were overshadowed by the increasing popularity of socio-critical realistic depictions. The composition of his paintings relies on the 17th-century tradition. The most well-known representatives of this type of landscape painting featuring groups of animals were Paulus Potter, Willem Romeyn, and Nicholas Berchem, whose works Verboeckhoven copied for educational purposes during his training.

Hippolyte (named Paul) Delaroche

Maternal Love

1843
Oil on canvas
Collection Jean-Pierre Pescatore

Already during his lifetime, Paul Delaroche was considered one of the most reputable historical painters in Paris, alongside Théodore Géricault and Eugène Delacroix. William II acquired this work in 1843. While it was not a pure “historical piece”, a fact bemoaned by critics, it described a scene of touching poetry. In his typical painting style, characterised by vibrant colours, clear contours and a dramatic image structure, he illustrated the universal subject of “ maternal love ”. A depiction of the Madonna by Raphael is thought to have served as inspiration.

David Teniers, the Younger

Flemish Interior with slaughtered Ox

1656
Oil on canvas

This unusual artwork is from the atelier of the famous Flemish genre painter David Teniers the Younger. It is a combination of genre scene, interior, and kitchen still life. The contrast between the amorous couple on the right half of the painting and the rather crude motif of the slaughtered ox on the left is notable. Teniers' “ slaughter painting ” is in line with a tradition of paintings from the 17 th century. One of the earliest such works was by Joachim Beuckelaer. The guttered ox is a symbolic indication of the transience of life and so also a symbol of love and worldly enjoyment. The precise representation of the surfaces of the individual materials, such as the raw flesh in this painting, is typical of Teniers ’ work.

Jan Havicksz Steen

Epiphany

around 1664
Oil on canvas
Collection Jean-Pierre Pescatore

Jan Steen was one of the key representatives of the “ Golden Age ” and his works were very sought after and correspondingly expensive. Here Steen thematises Epiphany, a tradition that has been popular since the Middle Ages. It involves the baking of a cake, in which a bean is hidden. The “ finder ” of the bean is crowned king. This theme was very popular in Dutch painting and was also illustrated by artists such as Bosch, Brueghel and Joerdaens.

Andreas Schelfhout

Winter Landscape with Ice Skaters

1838
Oil on wood
Collection Jean-Pierre Pescatore

A specialty of The Hague landscape painter Andreas Schelfhout were winter landscapes in the tradition of Hendrick Avercamp (1585 -1634). The typical romantic works of Schelfhout were already during his lifetime very popular and influenced numerous later artists. The painter succeeded in illustrating the cold so convincingly that observers believed they could feel the unique atmosphere and actually hear the scratching of the ice skates.

Pieter Brueghel the Younger

The Conversion of Saint Paul

1691
Oil on canvas

Pieter Brueghel the Younger supported an atelier in Antwerp with numerous associates. There they primarily produced more or less modified copies of his father’s originals, for which there was an active demand. Such was also the case with this painting. Portrayed here is a scene from the story of the Apostles, i.e. the conversion of St. Paul. One sees in this impassable mountain landscape a platoon of soldiers advancing. In the center is a rider who has fallen from his horse and is looking upward toward a ray of light that is breaking through the clouds. This adaptation of a biblical event to the present is typical for Brueghel the Elder, the artist’s father.

Jacques-Raymond Brascassat

Landscape with animals

1840
Collection Jean-Pierre Pescatore
Oil on canvas

This painting follows the tradition of works by Paulus Potter, an influential Dutch Baroque painter, who specialised in landscapes featuring grazing animals. Much like his famous predecessor, the French painter Jacques-Raymond Brascassat also specialised in reproducing animals. Here he skilfully depicted an imposing bull, surrounded by cows and various types of sheep. In 1840, Brascassat was awarded the diplôme d’ honneur at the Paris Salon for this work.

Barend Cornelius Koekkoek

The Moselle Valley

1841
Oil on canvas
Collection Jean-Pierre Pescatore

This painting from 1841 shows a sunny view of the Moselle Valley near Schengen. It was made during a previous trip of the artist to this region. While the dark patch of forest in the right-hand part of the image perpetuates the tradition of 17th-century landscape painting, the composition also uses characteristically “Romantic” light effects.