The Perfume Of The Rose, 19th Century By Jean François Portaels, (1818-1895)

Le Parfum De La Rose, 19th Century by Jean François Portaels, (1818-1895) Large 19th century French portrait of a lady in provincial dress from Tangier holding a rose, oil on canvas by Jean François Portaels. Large-scale example of the major Orientalist and genre painters widely regarded as the "master of Orientalism". Signed in the middle left and presented in its original old gilt frame. Biography JEAN FRANCOIS PORTAELS (1818-1895), Belgian painter, was born in Vilvoorde (Brabant), Belgium, on April 30, 1818. His father, a wealthy brewer, sent him to study at the Brussels Academy, and the director, François Navez, soon received as a student in his own studio. Around 1841, Portaels went to Paris, where he was kindly received by Paul Delaroche. Back in Belgium, he won the Grand Prix de Rome in 1842. He then traveled through Italy, Greece, Morocco, Algeria, Egypt, Lebanon, Judea, Spain, Hungary and Norway. On his return to Belgium in 1847, Portaels succeeded H. Vanderhaert as director of the Ghent Academy. In 1849 he married the daughter of his first master, Navez, and in 1850 moved to Brussels; but as he did not obtain the post of director of the academy there, and nevertheless wanted to continue the educational work begun by his father-in-law, he opened a private workshop-school, which became of great importance in the development Belgian art. He again made several trips, spending some time in Morocco; he returned to Brussels in 1874 and in 1878 obtained the direction of the academy which had so long been the object of his ambition. Portaels executed a large number of works. Decorative paintings in the church of St Jacques-sur-Caudenberg; biblical scenes, such as "The Injured Daughter of Zion" (in the Brussels Gallery), "The Death of Judas", "The Magi Traveling to Bethlehem", "Judith's Prayer" and "The Drought in Judea"; genre paintings, among which "A box at the theater in Budapest" (Galerie de Bruxelles), portraits of officials and the worldly world, oriental scenes and, above all, images of fanciful female figures and exotic life. “His works are generally full of an easy grace, of which he is perhaps too lavish,” wrote Théophile Gautier. However, his pleasant and abundant productions as a painter do not constitute the crowning achievement of Portaels. The high place that his name will occupy in the history of contemporary Belgian art is due to his influence as an erudite and clairvoyant pedagogue, who trained, among others, the painters E. Wauters and E. Agneesens, the sculptor Ch. van der Stappen and the architect Licot. He died in Brussels on February 8, 1895. provenance: a British private collector Dimensions: 52" x 39" framed approximately