Jan Frans van Dael

Jan Frans van Dael or Jean-François van Dael (27 May 1764 – 20 March 1840) was a Flemish painter and lithographer specializing in still lifes of flowers and fruit. He had a successful career in Paris where his patrons included the Empresses of Empire France as well as the kings of Restoration France.

Jan Frans van Dael was born in Antwerp as the son of a joiner. He studied architectural drawing at the Antwerp Academy. He won the Academy's first prizes for architecture in 1784 and 1785.

He travelled to Paris in 1786 where he resided there in the artists' accommodations at the Louvre, near artists Piat Joseph Sauvage, Gerard van Spaendonck en Pierre-Joseph Redouté. From 1806 until 1813 he worked as a state-protected artist in a studio in the Sorbonne.

He was originally active as a decorator and worked on projects at the châteaux of St. Cloud, Bellevue and Chantilly. He became self-taught in painting. Under the influence of van Spaendonck he turned to flower painting.

He regularly submitted work to the Paris Salon between 1793 and 1833 as well as to Salons in the Low Countries. Evidence of his success are the many commissions he secured from the Empresses Josephine (who owned five of his works) and Marie-Louise Bonaparte as well as Restoration kings Louis XVIII and Charles X. Van Dael was a member of the Academies of Antwerp and Amsterdam.

He collected the works of flower artists, both by his contemporaries and the great 17th-century Dutch still life painters Jan Davidsz. de Heem, Abraham Mignon, Rachel Ruysch and Jan van Huysum.

...
Wikipedia