Emile Wauters

Emile Wauters (19 November 1846 – 11 December 1933) was a Belgian painter. He was born in Brussels. Successively the pupil of Portaels and Jean-Léon Gérôme, he produced in 1868 The Battle of Hastings: the Finding of the body of Harold by Edith, a work of striking, precocious talent.

Wauters made a journey to Italy, but that the study of the old masters in no way affected his individuality was proved by The Great Nave of St. Marks (purchased by Léopold II of Belgium).

As his youth disqualified him for the medal of the Brussels Salon, which otherwise would have been his, he was sent, by way of compensation, by the minister of fine arts, as artist-delegate to Suez for the opening of the canal, a visit that was fruitful later on.

In 1870, when he was yet only twenty-two years of age, Wauters exhibited his great historical picture of Mary of Burgundy entreating the Sheriffs of Ghent to pardon the Councillors Hugonet and Humbercourt (Liege Museum) which created a veritable furore, an impression which was confirmed the following year at the London International Exhibition.

It was eclipsed by the celebrated Madness of Hugo van der Goes (1872, Brussels Museum), a picture which led to the commission for the two large works decorating the Lions staircase of the Hotel de Ville Mary of Burgundy swearing to respect the Communal Rights of Brussels, 1477 and The Armed Citizens of Brussels demanding the Charta from Duke John IV, Duke of Brabant. His other large compositions comprise Sobieski and his Staff before Besieged Vienna (Brussels Museum) and the Harvest of a journey to Spain and Tangiers, The Great Mosque, and Serpent Charmers of Sokko, and a souvenir of his Egyptian travel, Cairo, from the Bridge of Kasr-el-Nil (Antwerp Museum).

His vast panorama probably the noblest and most artistic work of this class ever produced Cairo and the Banks of the Nile (1881), 380 ft. by 49 ft., executed in six months, was exhibited with extraordinary success in Brussels, Munich, and the Hague.

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