Cornelis Cels

Who was Cornelis Cels?

Cornelis Cels, was a Belgian painter of portraits and historical subjects.

Cels was born at Lierre in Brabant in 1778. He studied under A. Lens at Brussels, and then visited Paris and Italy, where he became a professor of the Academy of St. Luke. He went to Antwerp in 1807, and was appointed in 1820 to the professorship of drawing at Tournai, a post which he resigned in 1827. He subsequently settled at Brussels, where he resided till his death. His views were originally directed towards the antique, as may be seen from a study of his 'Cincinnatus' at Ghent, but he subsequently took the Pre-Raphaelites as his model, and in this style painted the 'Descent from the Cross,' for the high altar of St. Paul's at Antwerp, a picture in which the drawing is bold and fine, but the colouring cold, and the shadows too dark. 'The Baptism of St. Catharine,' painted in 1809, and now in the cathedral at Bruges, is a specimen of his earlier manner. His portraits were held in some estimation. In the Rotterdam Museum is a 'Portrait of Gysbert Karel, Count of Hogendorp.'