De Fretters Fureteurs – Hunters at the Edge of the Forest, Brasschaat

Jan Frans Simons, also known as Frans Simons, was a Belgian painter and etcher whose work encompasses genre scenes, landscapes, city views, interiors, figures and portraits. He was born in Antwerp on 4 September 1855 and died in Brasschaat on 21 February 1919. His name is recorded by major international art-historical databases, including the Musée d’Orsay, the Getty Research Institute and the RKD. 

Simons received his artistic training at the Academy of Antwerp and later settled in Brasschaat, near Antwerp, where he worked closely with the painter Théodore Verstraete. The natural surroundings of the Antwerp Kempen became an important source of inspiration. In this environment, Simons developed an interest in painting directly from nature and became associated with the School of Brasschaat, a group of artists drawn to the rural landscape and everyday life of the region. Contemporary accounts describe his work as characterised by a sunlit realism, combining close observation of nature with a warm and atmospheric treatment of light. 

In 1883, Simons became one of the original members of Les XX, the influential avant-garde artists’ association founded in Brussels by Octave Maus. The group brought together artists including James Ensor, Théo van Rysselberghe, Fernand Khnopff and Guillaume Vogels, and played an important role in the renewal of Belgian art in the late nineteenth century. Simons participated in the group’s first exhibition in 1884, but resigned in February 1885 after two of his works were rejected. 

His paintings often combine carefully observed figures and rural surroundings with a lively treatment of colour and light. Beyond pastoral and genre subjects, Simons also painted Antwerp city views, interiors and portraits, while his activity as an etcher reflects the broader graphic interests of his generation. His close association with Brasschaat is particularly significant: an historical study of the artists working there around 1900 identifies Simons as one of the painters who recorded the character of the village and its surrounding countryside. 

Today, works by Frans Simons are represented in the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp (KMSKA). Its collection includes Sunny Lane, an oil on canvas depicting a wooded landscape, as well as De rede van Antwerpen, a cityscape of Antwerp. 

Provenance:

• Private Collection O.M., Liège, Belgium
• TEFAF Maastricht 2023, 11–19 March 2023, where the painting was offered by Berko Fine Paintings, Knokke-Heist, Belgium.
• Private Collection, Belgium