FAMOUS MEN

Painter of genre scenes, portraits, biblical compositions and historical subjects; engraver.

Joseph Meganck studied initially at his birth-place academy, then entered the Paetlinck studio in Brussels. Later he frequented David of Anger’s workshop in Paris for two years. Next he visited Rome and Naples, then Sicily and Calabria. Near the end of 1839 he returned to Belgium and settled in Brussels. A short while after, he left again for Rome. The city of Aalst possesses several of his paintings, among others: “St. Louis of Gonzaga teaching catechism in the streets of Rome” and “The Way of the Cross” at the St. Martin’s church. A few of his compositions were later etched. Meganck himself engraved several plates.

The painting depicts famous personalities, including the painters Leonardo da Vinci, Jan Van Eyck, Rembrandt van Rijn, Peter Paul Rubens and Anthony Van Dyck, Fernando Alvarez de Toledo, better known as the third Duke of Alba, Lamoraal I of Gavere, Count of Egmont, and Philip de Montmorency, Count of Horne.

The abbé Dubois mentioned in the tribute may refer to Abbé J.A. Dubois or Jean-Antoine Dubois (January 1765 – February 17, 1848), a French Catholic missionary in India and member of the ‘Missions Etrangères de Paris’. However, since the painting is about famous men, Meganck may also have meant Guillaume Dubois, called ‘Abbé Dubois’, then ‘Cardinal Dubois’, a French clergyman and statesman, born on September 6, 1656 in Brive-la-Gaillarde and died on September 10 August, 1723 in Versailles. He was Prime Minister of France under the regency of Philippe d’Orléans.