A RIVER LANDSCAPE WITH WAGONS AND TOWNSFOLK ON A PATH AND BOATS; AND AN EXTENSIVE LANDSCAPE WITH A WINDMILL AND FIGURES, A CANAL BEYOND

Beschey joined the Guild of St Luke in Antwerp in 1753, having been a pupil of Peter Strick, and was elected its dean for 1755-6. In 1754 he was made director of the Antwerp academy, where, using his influential position, he sought to revive traditional practices through the study of Rubens. Beschey excelled in portraiture, using both oils (e.g. Self-Portrait, 1763; Antwerp, Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten) and patels (e.g. Portrait of the artist M. J. Geeraerts; idem.), The Immaculate Conception (Stadhuis, Leuven), The Five Senses (Hermitage, St. Petersburg) and Flora and Pomona (Musée des Beaux-Arts, Dijon). An art dealer as well as an artist, Beschey died in Antwerp after catching pneumonia at a sale in Brussels.

We are grateful to Dr Luuk Pijl who, on the basis of colour transparencies, tentatively attributes the pictures to Beschey.