During Europe’s intense creative period between the 15th and 17th centuries, several independent movements rose that had a significant impact on the world of the arts, and among them is Flemish painting, which had its home in the Belgian cities of Brussels, Antwerp, and Bruges.
David Teniers, Peasants playing cards in an interior.
In this movement artists worked on small canvases, paying meticulous attention to details by means of an advanced technique of handling oil paint that allowed them to develop a particular degree of luminosity in their works. Their compositions were characterized by stereotypical landscapes inhabited by characters that are integrated into the composition in perfect balance and symmetry. Among the exponents of Flemish art are Rogier van der Weyden, the brothers Jan van Eyck and Hubert van Eyck, Hugo van der Goes, Petrus Christus and Dieric Bouts.
De Jonckheere has over sixty published catalogs and specializes in Flemish painting of the 15th through 17th centuries.
De Jonckeere Gallery
When we refer to Flemish art we often think of the Prado Museum in Madrid, where there is an important collection of this work. But it is the De Jonckheere Gallery, founded in Brussels in 1976, that leads this artistic field. With locations in Paris, London, Geneva and now in Monaco, De Jonckheere has over sixty published catalogs and specializes in Flemish painting of the 15th through 17th centuries. It’s also the meeting point for major international exhibitions, which museums turn to when exhibiting or exchanging Flemish works of art.
Passion, Dedication, and Expertise
Its founder, Georges de Jonckheere, an art expert, gallery proprietor and owner of some of the works of art representative of the movement, believes that it would be impossible to exert this labor of dedication without trying to hold on to some of these exquisite pieces. As happened with the famous art dealer Arthur De Heuvel, who sold very interesting works to collectors and museums yet kept some other very important works.
For the inauguration of the new location in Monaco, Georges highlights the exhibition of the work Paysans Jouant aux Cartes by the master David Teniers, a very important example from his personal collection that communicates like few others the emotional warmth of the movement. The opening of the new gallery in the Monégasque capital is the result of 40 years of work experience along with the impetus of a new generation of the De Jonckheere family.
Meeting of Masters
The opening exhibition in the cosmopolitan city of Monaco has been titled “Meeting of Masters,” and it will include works by classical Flemish masters along with representatives of contemporary modern art, among whom stand out David Teniers, Louis de Caullery, René Magritte, Lucio Fontana and Hieronymus Bosch. This aims to achieve a symbiosis of perceptible balance between detailed brushwork and the wide strokes that characterize modernism. ■
