Carel Beschey

Carel Beschey or Karel Beschey (1706, Antwerp – , likely Antwerp) was a Flemish painter and draughtsman who mainly painted landscapes that were in the style of, or inspired by, the Flemish masters of the previous century and in particular Jan Brueghel the Elder (1568 – 1625).

Life Carel Beschey was born in Antwerp the son of Jacob Beschey and Maria-Theresia Huaert. Carel had three brothers who all became painters. The best known was Balthasar who was a landscape, history and portrait painter. His younger brothers were Jacob Andries, a history painter, and Jan Frans, a copyist and art dealer. Jan Frans was for a while resident as a painter and art dealer in London.

Carel Beschey was a pupil of Hendrick Govaerts. Like his brother Balthasar, he became a director of the Academy of Arts of Antwerp.

Thanks to the connections of his younger brother Balthasar who was also an art dealer and portrait painter, Carel Beschey was able to find patrons and buyers for his paintings. At his brother's house, art lovers regularly met up to study the work of the great Dutch and Flemish masters.

It is not known when or where Carel Beschey died but it is assumed he died in Antwerp c. 1770. The preferred palette was pronounced blue-green.

The landscapes of Carel Beschey are closely based on the work of Jan Brueghel the Elder. Carel Beschey had a preference for wide, rural landscapes in which the rich scenery with farmers and travellers clearly evokes the model of landscape painting of the 17th century.

Beschey painted a few pairs of winter and summer landscapes. His winter landscapes display a greater level of independence from the Brueghel model. An example is A winter landscape with hunters and skaters on a frozen river running through a village (sold at Sotheby's on 9 December 2009 in London, lot 5).