Jan_Michiel_Ruyten

Jan Michiel Ruyten

Jan Michiel Ruyten

Belgian Romantic painter, draughtsman and engraver


Jan Michiel Ruyten or Jan Ruyten[1] (9 April 1813, in Antwerp – 12 November 1881, in Antwerp) was a Belgian Romantic painter, draughts man and engraver known for his genre paintings, cityscapes, landscapes with figures and history paintings. He was influenced by Dutch Romantic painting.[2][3]

Jan Michiel Ruyten

Life

Jan Michiel Ruyten was born in Antwerp where he received his first artistic training from Ignatius Josephus van Regemorter.[3] Initially he painted landscapes and genre paintings and then developed towards city views. From a young age he started contributing his works to the salons in Ghent, Brussels and, Antwerp.[4]

Koek-en-zopie vendor

Ruyten became in 1840 a member of the Antwerp Academy.[5] The marine and city painter Hendrik Frans Schaefels worked as an assistant of Ruyten between 1842 and 1844.[6]

Ruyten left Belgium for the Netherlands in the 1840s.[2] It is known that he contributed a painting to the exhibition of The Hague in 1845.[7] He is presumed to have lived and worked in The Hague until 1870. In the Netherlands he got to know the work of Andreas Schelfhout and this artist's pupil Wijnand Nuijen, which had a great influence on his choice of subjects.[2] Schaefels exhibited in his native Belgium as well as in Vienna and London and was awarded numerous prizes.[8]

View on the quay of the Scheldt with the pilotage, Antwerp

Ruyten's pupils included Florent Crabeels, Alexander Josephus Thomas Wittevronghel (1824-1901), and Laurent Herman Redig (1822-1861).[3][9]

Work

Jan Michiel Ruyten painted genre scenes, landscapes with figures, winter landscapes, urban landscapes, waterscapes, seascapes, historical subjects, scenes with figures and architectural views.[10] While initially he painted mainly cityscapes, during his residence in The Netherlands he was inspired by the work of Andreas Schelfhout and Wijnand Nuijen to start paintings river views, ports and ice scenes. Despite the Dutch influence on these works, he was able to maintain his originality. After 1870 he returned to painting city scenes and markets.[2] Jan Michiel Ruyten was of the same generation as the prominent Belgian history painter Henri Leys and was to some extent influenced by that artist.[11]

Ruyten worked in oils as well as in watercolors.[8] Ruyten was one of the first artists to use the recently invented medium of the photograph for his cityscapes.[12]


References

Return from fishing
  1. Also known as 'Jan Michael Ruyten' and 'Jean Michel Ruyten', last name also spelled 'Ruijten'
  2. Jan Michiel Ruyten at Simonis & Buunk (in Dutch)
  3. A. Raczynski, 'Die Neuere Deutsche Kunst. Band 3', Berlin, Dresden, Hamburg, Mecklenburg, Weimar, Halberstadt Und Göttingen. Mit Einem Anhange: Ausflüge Nach Holland, Belgien, England, Schweiz, Polen, Russland, Schweden, Dänemark und Nord-Amerika, Auf Kosten Des Verfassers, 1841 (in German)
  4. Max Rooses, 'Hendrik Schaefels' in: Max Rooses, 'Oude en Nieuwe Kunst', Boekhandel J. Vuylsteke, Ghent, 1896, p.160 (in Dutch)
  5. Jean Michel (Jan) Ruyten Archived 2015-09-08 at the Wayback Machine at Schwarz Gallery
  6. Laurent Herman Redig Archived 2015-11-17 at the Wayback Machine at Lawrence Steigrad Fine Arts
  7. 'Jaarboek Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten Antwerpen', The Museum, 1979, p. 302 (in Dutch)
  8. Frank Heirman, 'Watervoorziening (Anoniem of Florent Joostens, 1860)', in: Gazet van Antwerpen 22 December 2012 (in Dutch)

Media related to Jan Michiel Ruyten at Wikimedia Commons



Share this article:

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Jan_Michiel_Ruyten, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.