Department of Modern Art

Jean Portaels (1818–1895) is widely acknowledged to be a key figure in the nineteenth-century Belgian art world. However, his reputation as the deeply committed tutor of young artists such as Delville, Ensor, Frederic, Van Rysselberghe and Wauters has resulted in his own oeuvre being relegated to the sidelines of (art) history. This also explains why so many questions about his life and work remain unanswered to this day. By following in the footsteps of the young Portaels and by tracing his wanderings through the Orient (1845–1847), this book aims to explore the impact of the painter’s early artistic choices upon his later development. The search for the origins of Orientalism as a central theme in the artist’s oeuvre has revealed that, for Portaels, the call of the Orient was initially linked to an ambition to redefine Biblical history painting. The classic academic training the artist received in Brussels under the neo-classicist François-Joseph Navez, and his time spent studying in Paris under the historic genre painter Paul Delaroche, go some way towards explaining this ambition. In any case, Portaels’ experiences in the Orient would turn out to be pivotal to his career as a portraitist and Orientalist. As well as borrowing new iconographic motifs from the East, the experience enabled him to build up a wide network of professional contacts and friends. He was to reap the benefits of this throughout his career.

Jean Portaels (1818–1895) is widely acknowledged to be a key figure in the nineteenth-century Belgian art world. However, his reputation as the deeply committed tutor of young artists such as Delville, Ensor, Frederic, Van Rysselberghe and Wauters has resulted in his own oeuvre being relegated to the sidelines of (art) history. This also explains why so many questions about his life and work remain unanswered to this day. By following in the footsteps of the young Portaels and by tracing his wanderings through the Orient (1845–1847), this book aims to explore the impact of the painter’s early artistic choices upon his later development. The search for the origins of Orientalism as a central theme in the artist’s oeuvre has revealed that, for Portaels, the call of the Orient was initially linked to an ambition to redefine Biblical history painting. The classic academic training the artist received in Brussels under the neo-classicist François-Joseph Navez, and his time spent studying in Paris under the historic genre painter Paul Delaroche, go some way towards explaining this ambition. In any case, Portaels’ experiences in the Orient would turn out to be pivotal to his career as a portraitist and Orientalist. As well as borrowing new iconographic motifs from the East, the experience enabled him to build up a wide network of professional contacts and friends. He was to reap the benefits of this throughout his career.