BOUDEWIJNS, Adriaen Frans - b. 1644 Bruxelles, d. 1711 Bruxelles - WGA

BOUDEWIJNS, Adriaen Frans

(b. 1644 Bruxelles, d. 1711 Bruxelles)

Adriaen Frans Boudewijns (also Baudewyns; Bauduins; Boudewyns), Flemish painter, draughtsman and engraver. He was the son of Nicolas Boudewijns and Françoise Jonquin. On 5 October 1664 he married Louise de Ceul, and on 22 November 1665 he became a master in the Brussels Guild of St Luke, after having been registered as a pupil of Ignatius van der Stock (fl 1660) in the same year. By 1669 he had fled to Paris, where he met fellow Flemings, Pieter Boel, Abraham Genoels, Adam Frans van der Meulen and Jan van Hughtenburgh, and where he was mainly active as an engraver. He engraved van der Meulen’s Battles of Louis XIV and numerous works by Genoels, van Hughtenburgh and by himself. These prints combine bold execution with careful attention to detail.

In 1669-70 he was sent to the southern Netherlands with Genoels and van Hughtenburgh to draw three views of the château of Mariemont as tapestry designs for the Gobelins. In the Gobelins accounts there is evidence that the three artists were also paid for a series of tapestry designs depicting the Months of the Year. On 12 January 1670 his second marriage took place, to Barbara van der Meulen, Frans’s sister. After her death in 1674, he left Paris and returned to Brussels, where he is first mentioned in 1677. In 1682 he accepted Andries Meulebeeck and Mattijs Schoevaerdts as pupils, and in 1694 his cousin Adriaen Boudewijns (b 1673) was apprenticed to him.

Extensive Mountainous Landscape
Extensive Mountainous Landscape by

Extensive Mountainous Landscape

This painting shows an extensive mountainous landscape with figures before a building. A horseman passes a man talking to two women, one of whom sits down to rest; nearby a child clad in blue and a loyal dog wait patiently. Beyond them, two figures follow the path as it curves round to a bridge over which a herdsman guides his cattle. Further along the path still, three more figures can be seen approaching a town. Through the trees on the right hand side of the painting another town sits on the edge of the water and in the distant haze, the faint silhouettes of two sailing boats can be glimpsed.

This painting and its pair, the Extensive River Landscape, are examples of the Flemish landscape genre. They are collaborative works of Adriaen Frans Boudewijns and Pieter Bout, who painted the staffage figures. The two artists formed a highly successful partnership.

Extensive River Landscape
Extensive River Landscape by

Extensive River Landscape

This painting shows an extensive river landscape with figures around a village with a town in the distance. A group of figures in the foreground stop to converse on a well-travelled road. Beyond them, two people make their way along the path leading towards a lake, where more figures and two horses are faintly identifiable. Near the lake, the edge of a town can be seen and in the centre of the painting, a building is nestled within the landscape in front of which stand a herd of cows and a farmer. To their right, a river meanders its way through the craggy landscape where further buildings are situated.

This painting and its pair, the Extensive Mountainous Landscape, are examples of the Flemish landscape genre. They are collaborative works of Adriaen Frans Boudewijns and Pieter Bout, who painted the staffage figures. The two artists formed a highly successful partnership.

Landscape with Travellers
Landscape with Travellers by

Landscape with Travellers

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