Jan Baptiste de Jonghe

Jan Baptiste de Jonghe or Jean-Baptiste de Jonghe (Kortrijk, 8 January 1785 – Schaerbeek, 14 October 1844) was a Belgian painter, draughtsman, etcher and lithographer. He is known for his Romantic landscapes with people, herds and ruins. In his graphic work he also made views of cities in the area of what is now Belgium and the Netherlands. He was an art professor at the Academy of Kortrijk and the Antwerp Academy of Fine Arts.

Life Jan Baptiste de Jonghe was born in Kortrijk as the son of a wealthy businessman who was mayor of Kortrijk from 1805 to 1817. He received his first training at the Academie van Kortrijk, where he studied for two years. His drawing instructor was the sculptor Pieter Van Reable. He then went to study at the Antwerp Academy of Fine Arts. Here one of his professors was the renowned animal and landscape painter Balthasar Paul Ommeganck. thumb

He participated in various other art competitions in Northern France and Belgium and was successful in Douai, Brussels and Bruges. He travelled in The Netherlands, France and England.

In 1825 the Academy of Antwerp admitted de Jonghe as a member. The next year he was appointed professor at the Academy of drawing and architecture in Kortrijk. In 1828 he was admitted as associate member of the Academy of Amsterdam. In 1836 the Belgian government appointed him to the jury tasked to choose the artwork to be acquired by the Belgian state at that year's salon. In 1840, Belgian King Leopold I commissioned from the artist six landscape paintings of sites in the Ardennes.

The artist died in Schaerbeek in 1844 after a brief illness.

In his earliest works, De Jonghe interpreted nature in an idyllic, sentimental way. His paintings were romantic composite landscapes, such as the Border of the forest near Brussels.