Marten Jozef Geeraerts

Marten Jozef Geeraerts or Martinus Josephus Geeraerts (before 7 April 1707, Antwerp, Habsburg Netherlands – 16 February 1791, Antwerp) was a Flemish history painter and art teacher and director. He excelled in trompe-l'œil paintings of bas-reliefs executed in grisaille.

Life He was born in Antwerp as the son of the jeweller Jan Baptist and Anna Maria Borrekens and was baptized in the Antwerp Cathedral on 7 April 1707. His mother was also from a family of jewellers. His father intended his son to go into trade and had sent him to study at the Latin Jesuit College in Antwerp. When his drawing talent was discovered, it was decided he would train as an artist. In the Guild year 1723/24 when he was about 16 years old, he was registered as a pupil of Abraham Godijn at the Guild of St. Luke of Antwerp. Godijn was a history painter who, after a stay in Italy, worked for a time as a court painter in Prague where he produced magnificent Baroque frescos. He had later returned to Antwerp. Geeraerts followed for five year classes at the Academy of Antwerp where he was the second best pupil in drawing.

He died in Antwerp on 16 February 1791 and he was buried in Antwerp Cathedral three days later with the board of the Academy, his art friends and admirers in attendance. In these works Geeraerts achieved a very plastic effect. He also did not shy away from borrowing from other artists in the Cambrai works. An example are the grisailles of the Visitation and Descent of the Cross which are more or less copies from Rubens' treatment of these subjects in the Antwerp cathedral. In his secular works depicting groups of children or putti he uses a softer approach so that the trompe-l'œil reliefs appear to be made from wax rather than from marble or stucco. Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium: Christ and the Disciples at Emmaus The Saviour at the House of Simon the Pharisee The Sons of Aaron punished by Fire from Heaven The Woman taken in Adultery Abraham and Melchisedeck The Sacrifice of Abraham The Sacrifice of Eli Mauritshuis: Autumn. Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille: Children with Goat. Kunsthistorisches Museum: Trompe l'oeil: Basrelief mit Amor und Psyche. Liechtenstein Museum: Children and Amoretti, Putti with Hunting Equipment and Dead Game and Allegory of Peace.