Louis van Engelen artwork • painting • previously for sale The plein air painter

The Belgian painter Louis van Engelen was educated at the Antwerp Academy under Charles Verlat. Under his supervision he worked on grand, wall-filling history paintings, such as the 'Panorama of Waterloo' and the 'Panorama of Moscow'. Van Engelen was primarily a painter of cityscapes with figures, and in particular of poorer (working-class) neighbourhoods. He also often painted en plein air along the banks of the Scheldt and the Rupel. His oeuvre also includes genre scenes, landscapes, animal pieces and portraits. Van Engelen traveled extensively: in 1882 to Moscow with Verlat, in 1883 to North America and Congo, and to the Kerguelen Islands in the Indian Ocean. He often painted in large format, in a precise, cool style and with a clear colour scheme.