Carel van Falens

Carel van Falens (baptized in Antwerp on 24 November 1683 – Paris, 26 May 1733) was a Flemish painter, draughtsman, copyist, art restorer, art dealer and copyist. He specialised in scenes of hunters and cavalry encampments in the popular style of the Dutch battle and horse painter Philips Wouwerman. He worked most of his life in France where he was a painter to the court and a member of the Académie royale.

Life Van Falens was born in Antwerp as the son of Jan Baptist and Maria Anna de Kegel. His father was a captain of the local civil militia.

Van Falens did not join the Antwerp guild but moved in 1703 to Paris, where - unlike his master Francken who had done the same in young age - he stayed for the rest of his life.

He died in Paris on 26 May 1733 in his apartment in the Louvre, at the age of 49. He was buried on 27 May by his three brothers-in-law Sébastien Antoine, Jean-Baptiste and Paul Ambroise Slodtz.

Work He specialised in scenes of hunters and cavalry encampments. He left a number of works that were fully signed as C.van Falens or signed with his monogram CVF. Many of his compositions base their harmony, pictorial details, vivid and vibrant colours, and texture on the works of the Dutch battle and horse painter Philips Wouwerman. It is believed that because of the similarity in style, works of van Falens have been attributed to Wouwerman while many similar scenes by less talented imitators may have been given to van Falens.