Crowing Rooster and Hens
Charles Michel Maria Verlat (Belgian. 1824-1890)
Oil on parquet wood panel
16 x 12 (22 x 18 1/4 frame)
Charles Verlat’s animalier paintings “… show the kind of dynamic representation of animals only interactions that can be seen in the animal paintings of earlier Flemish animaliers such as Frans Snyders. This is an amazingly rich and lifelike exhibition of Verlat’s considerable painting skills and sensitivity.
Charles Michel Maria Verlat was a Belgian painter, watercolorist, engraver, art educator and director of the Antwerp Academy. He was particularly known as an animalier and portrait painter. He also created Orientalist works, genre scenes, including a number of religious compositions and still lifes.
While he was a professor of drawing and director of the Antwerp Academy, Vincent van Gogh spent a brief period as a student at the Academy in 1886. The two men got into arguments about van Gogh's unconventional style of drawing.
From an early age Verlat lived for art. He left formal school education at the early age of fourteen and was accepted to take lessons at the studio of Nicaise de Keyser; one of the key figures in the Belgian Romantic-historical school of painting. At the same time Verlat was enrolled in art courses at the Antwerp Academy.
He began participating in the salons and in 1843, Verlat sent his first important picture, Pippin the Short Killing a Lion to the Antwerp triennial salon. He also gradually started to paint animal scenes as well as genre scenes. He participated in the Prix de Rome of Belgium in 1847 but was not successful, possibly as the result of his partial incapacitation due to a broken arm. Fortunately, a wealthy relative provided him in 1849 with a stipend that allowed him to continue his studies for four years.
He left for Paris in 1850 to learn from other master educators and study at the Académie des Beaux-Arts. From 1852 he had his own studio in Paris, and he gained commissions from religious and official institutions in Belgium. These included the commission from the Antwerp city government for the large historical composition Godefroid de Bouillon during the assault on Jerusalem (1854, Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium). In 1855 he won a gold medal at the Exposition Universelle at Paris with his Tiger Attacking a Herd of Buffaloes.
He gradually came under the influence of the Realism of Gustave Courbet. This resulted in his 1857 work Coup de collier (now in the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp) showing two horses struggling to pull a heavy cart loaded with bricks while being whipped by their handlers. Despite its vivid depiction and dynamic form, the large-scale work failed to achieve the success its creator had hoped for due to critical reviews. He returned for a year to Antwerp to return the next year to work in his studio in Paris. It was at this time that Verlat began to establish a reputation as a very fine animal painter. He was also painting religious subjects, and his Pietà of 1866 was so successful that it earned him the distinction of being appointed a knight in the French Legion of Honour.
Departing Paris in 1869, Verlat accepted the invitation of Charles Alexander, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach to establish a painting class at the Grand-Ducal Saxon Art School set up by the Grand Duke. He was very appreciated by the Grand Duke and taught art classes to the daughters of the Grand Duke. Later, he became the acting head of the Art School. The Grand Duke also bestowed on him the Order of the White Falcon. During this period, he was active as a portrait painter, moving in the cultural circles of Weimar and counted Franz Liszt, whose portrait he painted as a friend. They would stay in touch and later Verlat would be instrumental in Liszt's visit to Antwerp in 1881.
In August 1875 Verlat stepped down from his official positions in Weimar and traveled to Cairo where he stayed for six months. He then moved on to Jerusalem where he would reside for two years. He traveled throughout Palestine and painted the people, animals and landscapes. Motivated by a desire to study the real life of the people who formed the subjects of his religious paintings, he completed large-scale compositions which are now found in European public collections.
Verlat returned to Antwerp in 1877. He exhibited the paintings he had created in Palestine in various locations, including in Weimar, Antwerp, Brussels and London. They were also sent to the Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1878. The works were received with enthusiasm. He had been called to Antwerp to take up the position of professor of painting at the Antwerp Academy. He was also offered a seat on the board of the Academy to replace Nicaise de Keyser upon his retirement though Verlat deferred and only became a member in 1885. In 1881 Verlat was made Commander in the Order of Leopold.
At the time panoramic paintings were all the rage in Europe, Verlat having also created several himself enlisting the help of his pupils. In Antwerp he first created the Battle of Waterloo in 1881. This work was 120 meters wide and 10 meters high. The whole scene also included plaster figures that enlivened the experience. In 1883 he was commissioned with decorating the stairwell of the Antwerp City Hall. Of the four historical paintings he planned to install only one showing The Duke of Alva's statue dragged through the streets of Antwerp was finished at the time of his death. During this period, he still made many portraits, animal paintings, religious compositions and decorations for the palace of Prince Philippe, Count of Flanders in Brussels.
In January 1886 the Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh matriculated in painting and drawing at the Antwerp Academy. He quickly got into trouble with Verlat, the then director of the Academy and teacher of a painting class, because of his unconventional painting style. Van Gogh also clashed with the instructor of drawing. There was a confrontation between the two men when van Gogh made a drawing after the Venus de Milo making her look like the limbless, naked torso of a Flemish peasant woman. Van Gogh ceased to attend classes after the confrontation.
Although his works commanded a high price in the market, Verlat became indebted because of the high costs of organizing exhibitions of his works, the creation of the panoramas and he suffered a big loss on a Russia commission for panorama which was never paid. As a result, he was pursued by his creditors and had to pawn his works despite the financial assistance of his powerful friends. All these troubles were a serious burden on the artist. His health declined and in 1890 he had a stroke which partially paralyzed him. Unable to regain his strength he died in Antwerp on 23 October 1890. Two years later a bust created by his friend Jules Pecher was placed on his grave.
During his lifetime he was recognized as an important animal painter. He was able to render animals in a lively and realistic manner. One of his early animal works was acquired by the English animal painter Edwin Landseer. One of the best known examples of his art in this area is The defense of the herd (1878, Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp). Painted during his Palestine residence it has the muted palette that he adopted during this period. It shows the kind of dynamic representation of animals only interactions that can be seen in the animal paintings of earlier Flemish animaliers such as Frans Snyders.