Gustaaf Vanaise

Gustave Vanaise (birthname: Gustavus Antonius Maria Vanaise ) (4 October 1854 in Ghent - 2 July 1902 in Saint-Gilles/Sint-Gillis) was a Belgian historical, portrait, genre, nude, landscape and still life painter. He set as his goal the revival of history painting in Belgium by creating large canvases depicting glorious scenes from national history. He also painted some Orientalist scenes. Despite his commercial success, his academic and realistic style had started to fall out of favor during his lifetime even as his later works became brighter in color and looser in touch under the influence of contemporary art trends.

Life Vanaise was the son of Nicolaus Josephus (1821–1876), a pastry chef originally from Marche-lez-Écaussinnes, and Seraphina Antonia Vlieghe (1822–1860). He attended the academy's painting classes from 12 May 1872. After his father died in 1876, his brothers provided him with the financial means to continue his studies. On 4 March 1877, he exhibited for the first time in his hometown and sold his first painting, a landscape. The buyer was the painter Auguste Dael who would become his patron.

In March 1877, he traveled to Paris with Jules Van Syngel. He worked tirelessly at the Louvre and in Cluny. In October of that same year, he returned to Ghent with a great number of studies. He rented a studio in the premises of the Vrouwenbroeders (Carmelites) where he painted studies and portraits. The portraits of Mr. M. Em. Van Swieten and Van Hyfte date from this period.

The year 1882 was marked by a trip to Italy, which he undertook together with Jef Lambeaux and Rodolphe Wytsman. In Rome, he made copies of numerous works of art, including frescoes by Raphael and works by Velazquez.

In January 1887, he traveled to Spain, this time with Jules Lambeaux, the painter and brother of the sculptor. There he studied Velázquez and Ribera, as well as Jordaens and Rubens. The Alhambra in Granada captivated him for a time. He painted a picture of the interior of a church in Granada.

He married Anna Maria (Mieke) De Coster (1868–1891) on 4 August 1890, in Oostduinkerke, West Flanders. He found domestic happiness and his wife appears in various paintings from just before and after his marriage. An example is the idyllic Happiness, which shows a half-biblical, half-contemporary-looking Holy Family, with his beloved wife Mieke at the centre, against a backdrop of a wide open landscape. Unfortunately, his wife died on 8 September 1891 from an illness, a loss from which he suffered greatly. During this period he finished his large Jacob Van Artevelde – Celebrated, Murdered, and Glorified (1892, Museum of Fine Arts, Ghent, height: 498 cm, width: 854 cm), which took him five years to complete. It was exhibited at the Ghent Salon of 1892, where it received mixed reviews. He gradually withdrew from public life and stopped participating in exhibitions years before his death. He was known for his nudes which were very accurate in the drawing and natural in colour.

Under the influence of contemporary art movements, with which he came into contact as a member of Les XX his solid painting style became more fluid and his traditional color palette brighter.