Joseph Van Aken
Joseph Van Aken (c.1699 – 1749)[1] was a Flemish artist, a portrait, genre and drapery painter who spent most of his career in England. He was noted his skill in painting fabrics, and was employed as a costume painter by many leading artists.
Life [edit]
He arrived in London from Antwerp in around 1720, accompanied by with his brother Alexander (1701–57), and also by possibly an older brother called Arnold (d.1735/6).[1] He initially painted genre scenes and conversation pieces, before becoming a specialist drapery painter in the mid-1730s.[2]His works as an independent artist include a view of Covent Garden Market, of which he made at least three versions.[3] Van Aken painted drapery for most of the leading artists in London, particularly Thomas Hudson and Allan Ramsay.[1] Horace Walpole commented
As in England almost everybody's picture is painted, so almost every painter's work is painted by Vanaken[4]
He lived in Southampton Row, Bloomsbury, where he died on 4 July 1749. According to Vertue he was about fifty years old at the time of his death, and had spent more than 30 years in England.[1]
References [edit]
- ^ a b c d "Artist biography JOSEPH VAN AKEN (also Vanhaecken) ? 1699–1749". Tate Gallery. Retrieved 5 May 2013. quoting Elizabeth Einberg and Judy Egerton, The Age of Hogarth: British Painters Born 1675-1709, Tate Gallery Collections, II, London 1988.
- ^ Manners and Morals, p.247
- ^ Manners and Morals, p.67
- ^ Walpole, Horatio (1798). "Joseph Vanaken". The Works of Horatio Walpole, Earl of Orford 3. London: GG. and J. Robinson and J. Edwards. p. 449.
Sources [edit]
- Manners and Morals: Hogarth and British Painting1700–1760 (Exhibition catalogue). London: Tate Gallery. 1987.
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