IMPRESSIVE PAINTING RETURNS TO ANTWERP AFTER 100 YEARS

THIS OVERWHELMING PAINTING BY SIBERDT gives us a good impression (behind the scenes and screens) of the workplace of Van Dyck at the court of Charles I and Henrietta Maria both centrally depicted in the composition. We see Van Dyck, court painter since 1632, finishing one of his masterpieces known as ‘Le roi à la chasse’, at the far left on the easle.

This painting was painted in 1635 and is now part of the collection of the Louvre. Countless members of the court, all dressed up, are surrounding the central figures. We recognise, amongst others, the so-called ‘three beauties of the royal court’, Lady Dorothy Sidney and Lady Elisabeth Cecil, seated next to each other on the bench, and Anne Carr and her future husband William Russell, Duke of Bedford, standing behind them. Close to the king we see his royal chaplain, and at the far right we notice Endymion Porter, an English diplomate, art collector and financial supporter of Van Dyck. Apart from the who’s who at the court, Siberdt also shows some paintings that could have been in the painter’s workplace at the time: ‘The three oldest children of Charles I’ (dating from 1635, now in The Royal Collection Trust) and a free interpretation after ‘Princess Henrietta of Lorraine with servant’ (dating from 1634, now in English Heritage). He pays equal attention to the lavishly decorated and furnished interior with fine tapestries, heavy silk curtains and precious silver and glass ware. All is wealth and abundance at the Royal Court. 

EUGENE SIBERDT was born in Antwerp in 1851, where he went to the Academy of Arts. Nicaise de Keyser, an evenly gifted and critically acclaimed artist and kwown portraiteer, was his teacher. His oeuvre mainly contains portraits, religious and genre paintings, all executed in an academic and realistic style. In 1873 he took the second place in the Prix de Rome, proving his outstanding craftmanship. 

His paintings were very popular and sought after, drawing even royal attention. In 1883 he became a teacher at the Academy of Arts, but because of his ‘oldfashioned’ sense of reality, his students often disagreed on his way of working. He is even said to be the raison why Vincent Van Gogh left the Academy. Also Eugeen Van Mieghem, a well known Antwerp artist, was not into his style, to say the least, as he was even suspended by Siberdt because of his modern preferences. Siberdt died in 1931 with his works on display in the Ghent and Antwerp museums. 

His choice to depict this scene is a very logical one and follows the 19th century cultural tradition of what is called ‘the romantic recuperation’. Belgium, a new found country since 1830, was in search of it’s own cultural legimitation. Therefore the glorious past of the 17th century was very inspirational and often referred to by the intellectual and cultural higher society. So not only Van Dyck, but also Rubens, Memling and Brueghel were often depicted in full action and had their works regularly copied. Also, during the 19th century, scholars were able to document more in detail the 17th century way of living because of unknown sources coming to light. This enabled scholars to render a far more accurate and honest survey of the 17th century life, e.g.’Scènes de la Vie des peintres de l’Ecole flamande et hollandaise’ (1842), with illustrations by Jean-Baptiste Madou (ill). Siberdt could not have chosen a better subject to triumph on the Antwerp Salon in 1901: one of the greatest masters of the Antwerp School, Antoon Van Dyck, finishing one of his most famous paintings ordered by his most powerful commissioner.