François BOSSUET - Les ruines du château de Montaigle au milieu du XIXe siècle

Francois BOSSUET Ypres, 1798 – Saint-Josse-ten-Noode, 1889 Oil on mahogany panel 25.5 x 31 cm (36 x 41 cm with frame) Signed and dated lower right "F. Bossuet / 56" Titled on the reverse "Montaigle" Very beautiful 18th century frame in carved and gilded wood Belgian painter of romantic inspiration, of "vedute" - of architectural views - (like Jean-Baptiste Van Moer and François Strobants) of cities in Flanders and Spain mainly. Student at the Academy of Antwerp with Guillaume-Jacques Herreyns and at the Academy of Brussels where he became a professor. Author of a treatise on perspective in 1834 which became famous, Bossuet is known in particular for his great mastery of perspective in his compositions and his picturesque sites. Our painting is a view of the ruins of the castle of Montaigle in Belgium. The ruins of the medieval fortress of Montaigle are located near Namur in Belgium.The fortified castle was built at the beginning of the 14th century and was destroyed by Henri II of France in 1554. It stands on a rocky outcrop overlooking the valley of the Molignée on one side and the Flavion on the other. The Château de Montaigle was regularly represented by painters in the 19th century, during the Romantic era, notably by Eugène Verboeckhoven (Ghent Salon of 1826), Van Biesbrouck (Bruges Salon of 1837), Roffiaen (Salon of 1853).