Ignace Brice

Tomb of Ignace Brice (1795-1866), at the cimetière de Laeken (Bruxelles) (Section P.6.)

Ignace Brice (2 April 1795 in Brussels – 10 August 1866 in Saint-Josse-ten-Noode) was a Belgian painter.

Family, marriage and issue

His father Antoine and his paternal grandfather Pierre-François were both painters. Pierre-François was born in the French village of Saint-Venant, but left to settle in Brussels and become a painter at the court of Prince Charles-Alexandre of Lorraine.

In Brussels on 25 August 1825, Ignace married Hortense van Dievoet (1804-1854), great-great-niece of the Brussels sculptor Peter van Dievoet and of Philippe van Dievoet, known as Vandive, goldsmith to Louis XIV of France.

Life

Portrait of Jean-Louis van Dievoet (1777-1854), secretary to the Parquet de la Cour de Cassation (1777-1854), oil painting by Ignace Brice, 61 x 70 cm, influenced by Jacques-Louis David.

Ignace Brice at first studied under his father and at the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts, where he was strongly influenced by Jacques-Louis David, then in exile in Brussels - Ignace became known as "le David bruxellois". He followed his father as a professor at the Academy, and exhibited in Brussels in 1815, 1824, 1827, 1830 and 1833. He also exhibited in Ghent, Antwerp and Amsterdam, and was one of the founders of the Société des Beaux-Arts de Bruxelles.

He was a genre painter and portraitist, and had a great talent for drawing. His style was sober and classical and, besides David's influence, he reminds the viewer of the Port-Royal painters of the 17th century.

Works

Hortense Poelaert (1815-1900), sister of the architect Joseph Poelaert and wife of Eugène van Dievoet (1804-1858), oil painting by Ignace Brice, 1840. (71cm x 85 cm)

• Lithographic portrait of Thérèse Langhendries, superior of the hôpital Saint-Jean de Bruxelles
• The young lady with her daughter in a garden, national Salon of 1842
• Portrait of Louis-Xavier Gomand (1803-1875)
• Portrait of Henri Joseph Meeûs, master-brewer, husband of Marie Madeleine van der Borcht.
• The Magician, oil on canvas, 120 x 108 cm.
• Portrait of Adrien Joseph Eugène Oorlof.
• Portrait of Hortense Poelaert (1815-1900), wife of Eugène van Dievoet (1804-1858), 1840, oil on canvas, 71 x 85 cm.
• Portrait of Jean-Louis van Dievoet (1777-1854), secretary to the Parquet de la Cour de Cassation (1777-1854), 61 x 70 cm, influenced by Jacques-Louis David.]
• The cook and the poultry merchant (1827), painting by Ignace Brice, exhibited at the Brussels salon in 1827, now at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam
• The Holy Family surrounded by angels, oils, 1818. (now at the Centre Public d'aide sociale, Brussels).

References

• (French) Paul De Zuttere, "Les Brice, peintres à Bruxelles aux XVIIIe et XIXe siècles", in L'Intermédiaire des Généalogistes, Bruxelles, n° 190, 1977, p. 258-265.
• (French) Paul De Zuttere, "Contribution à l'œuvre des peintres Antoine et Ignace Brice", in L'Intermédiaire des Généalogistes, Bruxelles, n° 345, 2003, p.113-121.
• (French) Messager des sciences historiques: ou Archives des arts et de la bibliographie de Belgique, Société royale des beaux-arts et de littérature de Gand, Société royale d'agriculture et de botanique de Gand. Published by P.F. de Goesin-Verhaeghe, 1879: page 469, "Ignace Brice (fils de maître)".