Henri de Braekeleer - L'Atelier

"This is the workroom of the Antwerp master, or rather the laboratory of this magician with colours" (Sander Pierron, 1929). Henri Van Cutsem inaugurated his collection with the acquisition of this painting in 1874. The scene is a mise en abyme in which the painter portrays himself at work, sketching the first outlines of the female model in the middle of his studio. Worthy of a cabinet of curiosities with its disparate objects, this work is a fine example of the Belgian realist painter Henri De Braekeleer's interest in observing the diversity of the material world and the realities of everyday life rendered in the truth of its smallest details. The nuanced interplay of shadows and light is reminiscent of seventeenth-century Dutch painting, particularly the work of Johannes Vermeer. The instruments and materials reflect the technical nature of the painter's craft, while other media - tapestry, drawing, photography and sculpture - round out this celebration of art.