International studio (24.1904/1905(1905))

Victor Gilsoiil


‘‘OLD EMBANKMENT AT BRUGES” BV VICTOR G1LSOUL


The art of victor gil-
SOUL. BY LENORE VAN DER
VEER.
Victor Gilsoul is one of the truest living
followers of the old Flemish school. One sees re-
flected in his work much of the rich heritage left
by the masters of Flanders—a heritage priceless in
its influence on the art of all time. Born in the
capital of Belgium in the year 1867, Gilsoul played
as a child in an environment rich in memories of
Rubens and Van Dyck. His earliest inclination
was towards art, and at
fourteen years of age he
began his studies at the
Academie des Beaux-Arts
in Antwerp. By the time
he was fifteen he had won
the first landscape prize
and had seen enough of
the difficult side of painting
to make him determined
in his desire.
On returning to Brus-
sels after barely eighteen
months’ study in the Ant-
werp Academy, he came
under the influence of
d’Artan and Franz Courtans,
the two men who gave him
his first taste of open air
painting, a charm which
quickly enwrapped him, “a flemish mill” by victor gilsoul
r 18

and which has done more, perhaps, than anything
else to determine his ambition. When seventeen
years old he got his first painting admitted into the
Brussels Salon—a simple little study of a wind-
mill, but it won the youthful painter his first
taste of public distinction, and he has ever since
been well represented in the Brussels, Antwerp,
and Ghent Exhibitions.
Gilsoul’s first big success was about fifteen years
ago, with a picture representing a train in a cutting
at night. This picture was shown at the Voor-
waerts Club, in which the artist made his debut—