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BIRTH: 1867 DEGOUVE |
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Born on 28 February 1867: William
Degouve de Nuncques, Belgian Symbolist
artist who died on 01 March 1935. — [Quid nunc circa Nuncques?] — Encouraged by his father, the eccentric descendant of an old French family, to daydream, Degouve shared a studio with Toorop, who influenced him. He was married to the sister-in-law of the Belgian poet Emile Verhaeren. In Paris he was encouraged by Rodin, Puvis de Chavannes and Maurice Denis. His paintings have a highly private quality of invention and represent places of mystery, where unexpected adventures may suddenly occur. He remained true to the imaginative intensity of his youth and continued to produce works with Symbolist themes into the Twentieth century. — Belgian painter of French birth. After the Franco-Prussian war (1870-71), his parents settled in Belgium. Although self-taught, he was advised by Jan Toorop, with whom he shared a studio, and later lived with Henry de Groux. In 1894 he married Juliette Massin, a painter and Emile Verhaeren’s sister-in-law, who introduced him to the circle of Symbolist poets. His art, which bears the influence of poetry, transfigures reality in the sense that it affords a view of the invisible. Degouve de Nuncques belonged to the avant-garde group Les XX and later exhibited at the Libre Esthétique. He traveled widely and painted views of Italy, Austria and France, often of parks at night. He excelled in the use of pastel. Two works, in particular, demonstrate the magical quality of his work: Pink House (1892) and Peacocks (1896) From 1900 to 1902 Degouve de Nuncques lived with his wife in the Balearic Islands; he painted the rugged coastline and the orange groves. After suffering a religious crisis in about 1910, he painted pictures that revealed his tormented state of mind, and during World War I, while living as a refugee in the Netherlands, he produced only minor works. In 1919 he was overwhelmed by the death of his wife and lost the use of one hand. In 1930 he married the woman who had helped him through this crisis. They settled in Stavelot, where he devoted himself to painting snow-covered landscapes. — LINKS — The Pink House (1892, 63x43cm) _ This painting is also known as The Shuttered House or The House of Mystery. It is said to have inspired Magritte's paintings such as Empire of the Lights. — . The Angels of Night (1894, 48x60cm) _ Also known as Angels in the Night. The works of Degouve de Nuncques are often a poetic evocation of childhood daydreams This is as true of The Pink House as of this nocturnal vision in which angels kiss in a ghostly, supernatural park. — Nocturnal Effect (1896, 47x68cm) _ The artist often depicts isolated houses in the night and the fog, with only a few weakly lit windows to suggest that they are inhabited. — The Black Swan (1896, 38x47cm) _ This pastel is characteristic of the artist's Symbolist period, when he often strove to create an atmosphere of mystery by eliminating any trace of a human presence from his delicately shaded blue and green twilight scenes |
| 2002
Discovered Rubens's The Massacre of the Innocents to go at auction. Sotheby's auction house announces that it has identified a previously unknown painting by Peter Paul Rubens, one of the greatest Old Masters to be offered at auction in decades. A private owner brought the painting, previously thought to be by Rubens follower Jan van den Hoecke, to the company's attention, and Sotheby's experts determined it was a Rubens. The painting, The Massacre of the Innocents (1611), is expected to sell for anywhere from $5.7 million to $8.5 million when it is auctioned on 11 July 2002. It shows a gruesome, action-filled scene in which soldiers begin to slaughter a group of women and children. Babies' bodies litter the ground, one soldier holds an old woman by the throat as he prepares to run a sword through her torso and blood runs beneath the figures' feet. The painting had been bought by the royal family of Liechtenstein, in about 1700, identified as an early Rubens. But was later misidentified by their curators. |
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