Liévin De Winne

Portrait of a young girl with a coral necklace. Oil on canvas.

The first stamp of Belgium (1849), known as the Epaulettes, was based on the official portrait of King Leopold I by De Winne.

Liévin De Winne (Ghent, 24 January 1821 - Brussels, 13 May 1880) was a Belgian portrait painter who painted the official portrait of Leopold I on which the first postage stamp of Belgium was based.

De Winne was a pupil of Félix De Vigne and Henri van der Haert at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of Ghent. In 1850 he received a grant from the government of Belgium that enabled him to travel to Paris and from 1852 to 1855 he was able to share a studio with Jules Breton who subsequently wrote De Winne's biography. From 1861, De Winne resumed residency in Belgium where he established himself as a portrait painter to high society. His direct and insightful style won him many eminent clients and was a decisive break with the more romantic style of earlier Belgian portrait painting.

Selected works

• Separation of Ruth and Naomi, 1853.
• St. Francis in Ecstasy, 1854.
• The holy women at the tomb of Christ, 1858.
• Emile Breton in uniform of captain of the guard furniture of the Pas-de-Calais, Palace of Fine Arts, Lille.
• Count and Countess of Flanders.
• Leopold I, 1860, Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels.
• P. Verhaegen, 1863.
• L. Roelandt, 1864.
• The American diplomat J.S. Sanford, 1878. Presented at the Universal Exposition in Paris.

External links

• fr:Lievin De Winne
• de:Lievin de Winne
• it:Liévin De Winne