Rosseels Jacques

Jacques (Jacob) Rosseels was a Belgian painter, born in Antwerp in 1828 and died there in 1912. He studied at the Academy in Antwerp under E. Dujardin and J. Jacobs (1842-1849) and with landscape painter H. Van Der Poorten (1845). He worked from 1850 to 1852 in Genk, traveled to Switzerland and Italy in 1853, and was mostly active in the Antwerp and Limburg Kempen from 1858 to 1865. In 1861, he met Is. Meyers in Kalmthout. He painted landscapes in subtle, gray tones and gradually developed a looser technique, paying more attention to specific, precise details. Around 1870, he shifted his focus to the green, fertile Flemish countryside and primarily painted in the vicinity of Waasmunster, where he accidentally met A.J. Heymans. Influenced by him, from 1878 onwards he again sought inspiration in the Kempen, especially in Wechelderzande, where Heymans often stayed. His main goal then became not just capturing the landscape, but capturing the changing play of light that blurred forms and contours. He captured the melancholic atmosphere of the vast heathlands. Along with Is Meyers, he laid the foundation of the Dendermonde painting school and formed with Meyers, Crabeels, and Heymans the Kalmthout School, also known as the gray school, due to their pre-impressionistic plein air painting and mood depiction. From 1865 to 1901, he was the director of the Academy in Dendermonde and from 1882, the Deputy Inspector of the Belgian Academies and Art Schools, from 1895 the Chief Inspector of Flemish Academies. His works are found in the museums in Antwerp, Ghent, Brussels, Liège, and Namur. He is listed in BAS I and "Two Centuries of Signatures of Belgian Artists" (Piron).