Mathys Schoevaerdts

Mathys Schoevaerdts or Matthijs Schoevaerdts (c. 1665/1667 – after 1702) was a Flemish painter, draughtsman and printmaker. He is known mainly for his landscapes with trees, marines and genre scenes. He started out in the tradition of Jan Brueghel the Elder and later developed towards an Italianate style.

Details about the life of Mathys Schoevaerdts are scarce. The earliest records about the artist date from 1682, the year in which he began his apprenticeship with the landscape painter Adriaen Frans Boudewijns. This makes it likely that he was born somewhere between 1665 and 1667 assuming the age at which apprenticeships typically started was 15 to 17 years. His birthplace was likely Brussels.

Mathys Schoevaerdts was admitted as a master of the Brussels Guild of Saint Luke in 1690. He served as a Dean of the Guild from 1692 to 1696.

His work was highly appreciated during his lifetime and was widely collected throughout the 18th century. He spent time in the Dutch Republic.

His latest dated work is dated to 1702. It is believed that he died soon thereafter. A document from 1712 states that by then he was dead.

Mathys Schoevaerdts is known for his landscape art and genre scenes. His landscapes are full of anecdotes and delicately painted scenes of peasants travelling, sailing or attending kermesses. His early works show the influence of the market views and other crowded scenes of Jan Brueghel the Elder. He had the same preference for the use of delicate light blues and greens as Brueghel. Jan Brueghel the Elder started the tradition of landscape paintings with decorative scenes in the early 17th century. His style had a strong hold well into the 18th century on the next generations of Flemish painters including Izaak van Oosten, Peeter Gijsels, Adriaen Frans Boudewijns, Pieter Bout, various members of the van Bredael family, Balthasar Beschey, Carel Beschey and finally Théobald Michau. Typical of all their landscapes is the bucolic sense of happiness, and their small figures in anecdotic, detailed poses set against a backdrop of a pleasing landscape or buildings.

...
Wikipedia