Verhaert Piet

Piet Verhaert was a Belgian artist born in Antwerp in 1852 and died in Oostduinkerke in 1908. He was a painter and engraver. He was educated at the Academy in Antwerp under the direction of J. Van Lerius. He traveled to the Netherlands, Paris (1876) and Spain (1882-1883), where he made copies to Vélasquez. He initially painted genre scenes in the style of H. De Braekeleer. From about 1880 he started depicting contemporary subjects: figures and cityscapes. He continued to work realistically, but the technique became looser. He then began to focus on marine and landscape painting. The brown tones of his earlier work have disappeared. He also painted numerous portraits and became especially famous as the painter of the old, typical neighborhoods in Antwerp. He was a member of Les XX, co-founder of Les XII and of the Association of Belgian etchers. In 1899 he painted one of the frescoes for the stairwell of the town hall in Antwerp and also worked as an etcher. His work can be found in the Museums in Antwerp, Brussels, Ghent and Tournai. He is listed in the Lexicon of West Flemish visual artists vi, BAS I and Two centuries of signatures of Belgian artists. (piron)