VINCENT DE VOS (Courtrai 1829 – Courtrai 1875)
Circus Companions
signed V. de Vos in the lower left, and inscribed with initials V. D. in the center of the upturned hat in the lower center
oil on canvas
25 x 36 inches (63.5 x 91.4 cm.)
PROVENANCE
New Jersey Estate until the present time
In one of his larger compositions, Vincent de Vos depicts circus dogs and monkeys dressed in costume while resting in the sunshine between performances. The humanizing element on display in such works led to his great success in Europe and America. Part of the Belgium School of Realist painters his subjects are not sugar coated, but instead it is De Vos’ empathy for these animals that makes these portrayals so compelling.[1] Here the troupe members are either self-absorbed, sleeping or gazing off into the distance. Only the black and white dog on the right directly engages the viewer with eyes that bore into one’s soul.
De Vos studied with Edouard Woutermaertens at the Courtrai Academy. In 1870 he visited Italy and painted the Italian countryside. Yet it was always his animal subjects that were his mainstay. Similar to Rosa Bonheur he kept a menagerie of animals in his studio that included apes, wolves, foxes and even a camel. In 1930 when the Exposition Internationale was held in Liège in commemoration of 100 years of independence, 50 paintings by De Vos were exhibited.[2] His paintings formed part of the permanent collections of museums in Birkenhead, United Kingdom; Bruges; Courtrai; Lille; Mulhouse; Tourcoing and Wellington, New Zealand.
[1] William Secord, Dog Painting, The European Breeds, Antique Collectors Club Ltd., Woodbridge, Suffolk, 2000, p. 278.
[2] Biographical information taken from Jean-Marie Durosquel & Phillipe Cruysmans, “Joos Vincent de Vos” in Dictionary of Belgium and Dutch Animal Painters Born Between 1750 and 1880, Sabem – Belgium, 1998, p. 518; and Willem G. Flippo, “Vincent de Vos” in Lexicon of the Belgium Romantic Painters, International Art Press, Antwerp, 2000, unpaginated.