18 Facts About Cornelis Huysmans

Cornelis Huysmans was a Flemish landscape painter who was active in Antwerp, Brussels and Mechelen.

Cornelis Huysmans was born in Antwerp to Hendrik Huysmans and Catharina van der Meyden.

Cornelis Huysmans set up permanent residence in Brussels between 1675 and 1682 although he continued to visit his hometown Antwerp.

Cornelis Huysmans worked for d'Arthois and drew landscapes from the Brussels area for two years.

From about 1686 to 1688, Cornelis Huysmans stayed in London where he appears to have enjoyed the patronage of prominent members of society.

Cornelis Huysmans created several large format landscapes for the London market.

In 1688 Cornelis Huysmans signed an agreement with the painters' guild of Mechelen, which allowed him to work as a painter in the city.

Cornelis Huysmans had to pay the guild 24 guilders and 14 stuivers for the privilege.

In Mechelen Cornelis Huysmans created the large-scale altarpiece The Road to Emmaus for the local Onze-Lieve-Vrouw-over-de-Dijle church in 1690.

Cornelis Huysmans worked in Antwerp until 1716, the year in which he returned to Mechelen where he continued to work until his death in 1727.

Cornelis Huysmans is mainly known for his landscape works although he created some religious and history paintings.

Cornelis Huysmans worked with Jacques d'Arthois in Brussels, and in 1674 with Adam Frans van der Meulen in Maastricht.

Cornelis Huysmans' landscapes are characterised by their intensive and precise observations of nature, especially in his rendering of forests and trees.

Cornelis Huysmans often used a clearing to create a diagonal in his compositions.

Cornelis Huysmans used contrasts between colours and between the sharp light falling on roads and the dark hues of the tree trunks and foliage casting shadows to create a dramatic effect.

Unlike Jacques d'Arthois, Cornelis Huysmans bathed his landscapes in a warm, Italian light.

Cornelis Huysmans thus succeeded in giving his landscapes an air of grandeur.

Cornelis Huysmans's works are in the collections of various museums including the Louvre in Paris, the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Gemaldegalerie Alte Meister in Dresden, the National Gallery of Scotland in Edinburgh, the Musee Fabre in Montpellier, the Museum of modern art Andre Malraux - MuMa in Le Havre, the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp, the Musee des beaux-arts de Valenciennes and others.