Abraham Genoels (1640-1723) – Landscape with Figures on a Road, with Round Temple c1680
etching – platemark 13.1 x 16 cm, paper 18.4 x 23.2 cm
Unframed – Price : £150
Published by Adam Francois van der Meulen, Rue St Jacques, Paris.
Signed ‘A. Genoels, fe’ in bottom left corner of plate, below image. ‘Cum privil. Reg’ in plate on bottom right corner of plate below image.
Reference: Hollstein 38.II Bartsch IV.348.38.II Weigel 211.38.II Regnauld-Delalande 149.37
Condition: Nice impression in good condition. Marginal soiling from handling on reverse.
Abraham Genoels (1640-1723) was born in Antwerp. He studied drawing and perspective before leaving for Paris in 1659. Early on he met a fellow Flemish artist, the young Francisque Millet (1642-1679) to whom he taught perspective. He was also commissioned to provide designs for tapestries by a tapestry maker which gave him the experience for the next stage of his career. Around the same time, Charles Le Brun was put in charge of the Gobelins factory. He employed the services of the Brussels born Adam Francis van der Meulen (1632-1690) who attracted a number of fellow Flemish artists to work with him, including Genoels and Adriaen Frans Boudewijns, the latter who went on the make prints from Meulen’s designs. Genoels was taught engraving by Charles Audran when they were both working for Le Brun. Genoels was working at the heart of the French art establishment as it revolved around Le Brun with whom he collaborated also on a commission to paint the battles of Alexander the Great. So many artists were involved with Gobelins, the influence of which will have helped to shape his art. There was a certain look about the tapestry designs that carries through in the work of all the artists associated with it. Le Brun’s influence on tapestry design was significant, taking on board Flemish mastery of this art.
Genoels was accepted into the French Académie in 1665, a recognition for his contribution to art in France. In 1669, Genoels returns to Flanders. In 1674 he finally manages to get to Rome where he became a member of the Bentvueghels, with the nickname Archimedes due to his proficiency in geometry and perspective. In Rome at that time he would have met many other northern artists including, among many others, Johannes Glauber and Albert Meyeringh, both of whom are part of this overview of northern classicists.
Genoels’s etchings show a distinctly Italian influence with their landscape, tempered by his experience at Gobelins, owing much to the Roman Campagna, including the architectural ruins that he includes. Most of his prints are very well drawn with careful attention to detail. These idyllic landscapes were highly popular and Genoels designs were etched by others, Adrian Frans Boudewijns in particular., and Chiboust. They typify the Italian style of imagery that countered the local naturalism of those other artists who preferred to depict grittier northern landscape.