Gerard Rijsbrack

Gerard Rijsbrack or Gerard Rysbrack (1696 – 1773) was a Flemish painter of still lifes, game pieces, hunting scenes and mythological scenes. He first worked in England and later in Paris where he received royal commissions. He was the younger brother of the sculptor John Rysbrack, one of the leading sculptors in England around the mid-18th century.

Life Gerard Rijsbrack was born in Antwerp as the son of the landscape painter Pieter Rijsbraeck and Geneviève (Genoveva) Compagnon, a French woman his father had married in France. He was baptized in the Antwerp Cathedral on 19 December 1696. Gerard likely studied painting with his father. He became a member of the Guild of St. Luke in Antwerp in 1725. This network may have helped his brothers in gaining commissions from prominent patrons. The absence of signed and dated work by Gerard from his English period may indicate that he worked in the successful workshop of his brother Pieter Andreas.

Gerard left England for Paris where he is known to have been active from around 1747, although he may have moved there before this time. His move to Paris may be related to the fact that his brother Pieter Andreas Rijsbrack was no longer able to work as he was suffering from consumption from which he died in London in October 1748. The artist also received a royal commission for overdoor paintings of hunting scenes for the Chateau de la Muette, originally the hunting lodge of the French king but used by Louis XV to entertain his mistresses. Rijsbrack received 700 pounds for each hunting piece between 1749 and 1751. Between 1748 and 1751 he also made paintings for the king's mistress Madame de Pompadour, destined for the Ermitage of Pompadour and the Palace of Versailles. He received 4,460 pounds for his paintings for the Ermitage.

He is said to have died blind and impoverished in Antwerp to where he had returned at the end of his life.

In two paintings of dead game he made for the menagerie at the Palace of Versailles in 1751 (Louvre Museum, Paris), his manner of representation shows an aesthetic as well as a documentary preoccupation. This intention to make a documentary representation of reality is further confirmed by another work in the Louvre, the Fishing bird, swans and fish, which bears an inscription stating that the subject is a ‘fishing bird found in May 1748 near Pontoise'.