Emile Wauters

Emile Wauters studied at Royal Academy of Fine Arts of Brussels. Training under Jean-François Portaels is recorded. Alix d'Anethan is recorded as having studied under Emile Wauters. The recorded working language is French. Places of work recorded in the authority are Brussels and Paris. Work by Emile Wauters is recorded in the collections of Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Hermitage Museum, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden and Musée d'Orsay. Distinctions recorded are Officer of the Legion of Honour and Pour le Mérite for Sciences and Arts order.

• Name — Emile Wauters • Birth Name — Emile Wauters • Born — 19 November 1846 • Died — 11 December 1933 • Occupation — Painter • Illustration — The 6th Duke d'Ursel painted by Emile Wauters, Collection of the Belgian Senate, Brussels.

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 Leopold 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 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.

The canonical record carries the following identifying particulars.

Between 1889 and 1900 the painter contributed to the Royal Academy of London. Few artists have received such a succession of noteworthy distinctions and recognitions. His Hugo van der Goes, the work of a youth of twenty-four, secured the Grand Medal of the Salon. He has been awarded no fewer than six medals of honor at Paris in 1878 and 1889; Munich, 1879; Antwerp, 1885; Vienna, 1888; and Berlin, 1883.

• 1887: Commander in the Order of Leopold • 1924: Grand Cross in the Order of the Crown • Commander in the Order of Saint Michael • Officer in the Legion of Honour • Order of Merit of Prussia • Knight in the Order of Franz Joseph • Member of the Royal Academy of Science, Letters and Fine Arts of Belgium He was an honorary member of the Vienna, Berlin, and Munich academies, and corresponding member of the Institut de France and of that of Madrid.