Joseph Charles Francois, circa 1875. Decorative mountain landscape (Vosges?) of the Romanticism period. With vivid and warm colours. Oil on canvas in excellent condition. Original front frame from the Biedermeier period (circa 1830) with beaded motifs, intact with original gilding. Signed lower right. Free of noticeable restorations and/or notations.
Joseph Charles Francois was born in Brussels, Belgium in 1851. He was a painter of landscapes, seascapes and landscapes with animals . He painted in the forest of Soignes, Campine and in the Ardennes near the city of Spa . Francois exhibited regularly at the "Le Cercle des Beaux - Arts de Liege " from 1905 to 1934. He also exhibited at the " Salon des Artistes Francais " and obtained a silver medal from this important group in 1913. He was a member of the prominent artists' circle "L' Essor , where he was elected in 1887. Today, his works can be found in public and private collections including the Brussels Museum and the museums of Charleroi and Saint - Josse - ten - Noode ( Charlier ). His works can also be found in the Town Hall of the city of Huy. He died in the year 1940 in wartime. This masterful landscape, with vivid colors, is a work in excellent condition, from the late Romantic period, datable to 1875-80, in the artist's youth, who, in later years, adapted to the widespread impressionist taste. The painting, oil on canvas, measures cm. 69x55 (canvas only) ; with the frame the overall size is cm. 84x71. Signed lower right. The magnificent beaded frame, gilded with leaf, is earlier, from the Empire period (first third of the nineteenth century); it is in perfect condition. Romanticism is an artistic current that consolidated in the early decades of the 1800s and faded towards the mid-nineteenth century, although some of its suggestions and offshoots will reach until the end of the 1800s. Romanticism re-evaluates the sphere of feelings, passion, and also irrationality; it is a movement of great religious suggestions that looks at and values the history of the Middle Ages, through inspiration and individual genius. Romanticism presents itself with different characteristics from nation to nation, so much so that it is different in England, France, Germany and Italy. From the point of view of content, Romantic painting is generally inspired by the great historical themes, with preference for moments of patriotic and popular struggle, for the events of news and daily life. The genre of landscape is also affirmed. Nature is represented in all its boundlessness, almost to express the sense of impotence of man, a finite being, in the face of nature, an infinite manifestation. It is no coincidence that man is always represented either from behind or in the distance so that he can never be looked in the face.
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