Victor Lagye | Genre painter

Victor Lagye (20 June 1825, in Ghent - 1 September 1896, in Antwerp) was a Belgian painter🎨 and illustrator best known for his genre paintings🎨 and history scenes.

He participated in various decorative programs commissioned by the Belgian government. In his later years he was active in art education.

Victor Lagye was a painter whose main subject matter was portraits and genre paintings.

He started as a typical representative of the late-Romantic style as developed in Belgium by pupils and teachers of the Antwerp Academy.

In particular, the influence of Lagye's teacher Henri Leys remained paramount at the Academy throughout the second half of the 19th century in style as well as subject matter.

The teachers at the Academy encouraged their students to study the antique, draw precisely and stick to the sober and somber palette typical of 19th century academic painting.

Lagye became an enthusiastic and devoted disciple of Leys and started to paint subjects similar to the subjects favored by Leys and Leys' pupils such as Eugène Siberdt.

His subject included genre scenes often of a sentimental nature set in the 16th and 17th century such as A maiden feeding squirrels, stories from the glorious national history such as The girlfriend of Emperor Charles V at the cradle of her child and stories from Goethe's Faust. He also often depicted Roma women.

Lagye was criticized by some art historians for being a slavish follower of Leys but with less imagination and technical skill. He initially used the sober color palette favored by Leys. He later abandoned Leys' themes in search of a warmer, more modern range, often more daring in its presentation.

Lagye also painted some portraits of fashionable women such as the Young woman resting on a park bench (Hôtel de Ventes Horta Brussels auction of February 2018 lot 213).

Lagye also flirted with Orientalism and created various compositions depicting scenes from old Egypt such as The lyre (Sotheby's New York auction of 1 February 2018 lot 863).

Eugène Verboeckhoven filled out some of his pictures. | © Wikipedia

Victor Lagye (1825-1896) è stato un pittore ed illustratore Belga🎨 noto per i suoi dipinti di genere🎨 e scene di storia.

Ha partecipato a vari programmi decorativi commissionati dal governo belga.

Negli ultimi anni è stato attivo nell'educazione artistica.