Ferdinand de Braekeleer the Elder

Ferdinand de Braekeleer (12 February 1792 – 16 May 1883), sometimes spelled as Ferdinand de Braeckeleer, was a Flemish painter and printmaker. He is known for his paintings of genre scenes, church interiors, historic events, religious scenes, cityscapes, market scenes and market still lifes. He is called 'the Elder' to distinguish him from his son with the same name, who was also a painter.

Life Ferdinand de Braekeleer was born in Antwerp on 12 February 1792, into a poor family. After his parents died, he was admitted to the school for orphans and children of poor parents established by the prominent Antwerp painter Mattheus Ignatius van Bree in Antwerp in 1807. At the school, de Brakeleer received artistic training as well as reading classes. De Bree rewarded good students with money and gifts. De Brakeleer was a good pupil and continued his education at the Royal Academy for Fine Arts of Antwerp where van Bree was also a teacher. He excelled as a pupil and received several prizes in 1809 and 1811.

Ferdinand de Braekeleer was widowed in 1874 and his health declined rapidly. He managed to handle the brush until the end of his life, leaving unfinished a large painting of the Feast of St. Thomas, a subject he had treated many years before for the Belgian King, but his eye and hand were no longer able to serve his thoughts. Surrounded by his daughters, he died in Antwerp on 16 May 1883, at the age of 91. The citadel of Antwerp after the bombardment of 1832; Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp Tavern scene with musicians, 1843 based on a work by Adriaen van Ostade The Siege of Haarlem; Teylers Museum Farmhouse with peasants, drawing. Schlossmuseum Weimar Old hunter with young woman, 1867; private collection