VERHAS Jan
SUMMER AT THE BEACH IN HEIST, BELGIUM
Oil on canvas: 120.5 x 85.5 cm / 47.4 x 33.7 ins
Signed and dated '1890' lower left
Painter of genre scenes, portraits, landscapes and animals.
Jan Verhas was a pupil of his father, Emmanuel Verhas, and Nicaise De Keyser at the Antwerp Academy of Fine Arts. Around 1860 he spent some time in Paris and in 1862 he visited Italy. He returned to settle in Antwerp. From 1863 to 1867, he lived in Binche and from 1867 onwards in Brussels, where he specialised in portraits, mainly of children. In 1889 he was awarded a gold medal at the Paris Salon.
After an academic debut to his career, he took up romantic painting (1854 – 1867) and was then attracted to the theme of children (1868 – 1879). His palette became clearer and his colours increasingly refined.
Between 1882 and 1896 he specialised in views of the beach in Heist.
This painting is certified on the back: ‘Jan Verhas rue Serctin 21 Bruxelles’.
Period:
Termonde 1834 - Schaerbeek (Brussels) 1896
Belgian School
Exhibitions:
Antwerp - Brussels - Ghent - Greenwich - Liège
Literature:
P. & V. Berko, "Dictionary of Belgian painters born between 1750 & 1875", Knokke 1981, p. 745
P. & V. Berko, "19th Century European Virtuoso Painters", Knokke 2011, p. 519.
