Cutting the Bread

Gerard Portielje was born in Antwerp, 6 February 1856. He was a Belgian painter known for his finely detailed genre scenes filled with humor and lively anecdotal touches.

Born into a family of artists, he was the son of painter Jan Portielje (1828–1903) and Eulalie Lemaire, and the brother of painter Edward Portielje. He married Caroline-Henriëtte Andreikovits in 1882, and they had one son, Alfred-Johannes-Victor.

Gerard studied at the Sint-Ignatius Trade School in Antwerp until 1870 before enrolling at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, where he trained under Edmond Rumfels, Polydore Beaufaux, Joseph Van Lerius, and Edward Dujardin. In 1888, he moved into a house he designed to his taste on Harmoniestraat in Antwerp, decorated in Flemish neo-baroque style.

He travelled to the Vosges and Alsace in 1887 and to England in 1898, visiting places like Lowestoft. These travels, aside from sketches, had little influence on his oeuvre. At the outbreak of World War I in 1914, Portielje fled via Ostend to England, living in Worcester Park, Surrey, where he painted landscapes and depictions of country houses in Cheam and Ewell. Curiously, he did not participate in exhibitions of Belgian artists in exile during this period. In 1919, he returned with his family to Antwerp, resuming his artistic routine.

From 1898 to 1925, he worked as a drawing teacher at the municipal school on Lange Leemstraat, while also maintaining his painting practice.

Gerard Portielje specialised in genre scenes, often set in rural interiors such as inns, small schools, workshops, shoemaker’s shops, and salons of country gentry. His paintings are populated with card-playing villagers, jesting inn patrons, hunters at rest, cobblers, musicians, schoolmasters, and mischievous pupils. These scenes, usually set around the early to mid-19th century, are rich in detail and narrative, often featuring a small anecdote—a broken object on the floor, a teasing servant girl, or an animated discussion—that enlivens the composition.

His works were priced based on the number of figures included, reflecting the preferences of a conservative art market seeking well-crafted, narrative paintings rather than avant-garde statements. Portielje worked closely with art dealers for the sale of his works, including Albert D’Huyvetter in New York, Koekkoek in London, Guillaume Campo and Baudouin in Antwerp, and Prinz Bros. in Brooklyn. A 12 March 1884 contract with D’Huyvetter, for example, details the delivery of ten paintings, each with at least four figures, for 950 francs per piece.

Portielje also collaborated with artists such as Hendrik Saverij, Willem Johan Jacob Boogaard, Eugène Remy Maes, and Gezina Vester, often at the request of dealers like D’Huyvetter, to create multi-artist compositions.

His works are held in the collections of the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp and the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne.

Gerard Portielje passed away in Remich, Luxembourg, in 18 May, 1929 and is buried at Schoonselhof in Antwerp.

References:

• I. Bruynooghe, Het oeuvre van Jan, Gerard en Edward Portielje, Roeselare, 2001.

• Berko, P. & V., Dictionnaire des peintres belges nés entre 1750 et 1875, Editions Laconti, Brussels, 1981.