CODART, Dutch and Flemish art in museums worldwide

Groeningemuseum in Bruges expands its neoclassicist collection

The city of Bruges recently approved the acquisition of two paintings by the Belgian artists Joseph Benoît Suvée (1743-1807) and François-Joseph Navez (1787-1869). In addition, the print room of the Groeningemuseum will receive a pen drawing by Joseph Denis Odevaere (1775 – 1830).

The painting by Suvée is of Pierre Nicolas Joseph Bourguet de Travanet. It shows the nobleman posing in his military uniform. The acquisition makes a fine addition to the Suvée-collection of the Groeningemuseum.

François-Joseph Navez, one of Belgium’s most successful neoclassicist artists, painted the colorful group portrait of Théodore Joseph Jonet with his two daughters Juliette and Emilie. The painting places the collection of Bruges’ neoclassicists in a broader art-historical perspective.

Odevaere’s drawing depicts the Colosseum and a part of the Arch of Constantine, as seen from the Palatine Hill in Rome. It displays the great craftsmanship of the artist in rendering architecture and its surroundings.

The three acquisitions strengthen the Groeningemuseum’s important and exceptional holdings of neoclassicist artworks. For more information about the neoclassicist collection of the Groeningemuseum, please see the article: Bruges Artists Abroad, published in CODART’s eZine (summer 2014).