Pierre Tetar Van Elven

PIERRE HENRI TETAR VAN ELVEN (Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, Belgium, 1828-Milan, Italy, 1908).
"Interior of a church".
Oil on panel.
Signed in the lower right corner.
Measurements: 33 x 23 cm; 46 x 36 x 4 cm (frame).

A gallant couple walk through a side aisle of a Gothic church, with a vaulted ceiling with ribs. Nearby, an old woman rests seated in a chair, next to her grandson. This type of church interior painting developed as a pictorial genre with its own personality from the seventeenth century onwards, especially in the Flemish and Dutch schools.

The painter and engraver Pierre Tetar Van Elven was interested in Italian architecture, landscapes and cityscapes (vedute). He also painted some genre pieces for French high society. He trained in Amsterdam but moved to The Hague, where he studied at the Royal Academy of Arts. Later he lived in Rome, Milan and Turin. In 186 he was appointed court painter by Victor Emmanuel II of Italy and did some paintings that the Risorgimento supported. In 1866 he went to Tunisia and Turkey, possibly traveling with Tinco Lycklama à Nijeholt , whom he sometimes portrayed in oriental attire. In 1869, he lived in Paris. Today his works can be found in Milan, Genoa, Turin and Haarlem. The Musée de la Castre in Cannes also keeps some pieces.