Flemish painter

Probably Ghent 1623 – 1687 Antwerp

 

His first name is sometimes spelt Aegidus; that is because in the signature of his last drawings and paintings he no longer used the initial “G”, but “AE”, standing for the Latin version of his first name.

 

Strangely enough Neyts himself also mentioned two other birthplaces:

- in a document written in Namur in 1665 he is listed as a native of Overijse (between Brussels and Namur);

- in a drawing album Lille is given as his birthplace.

 

Landscape painter, draughtsman and engraver.

He was probably a pupil of the landscape painter Lucas van Uden (1595 – 1672) in Antwerp.

 

In 1643 he got married in Antwerp, in 1647/48 he became a Master of the local Guild of Saint Luke, both as a painter and as an engraver.

 

According to Pierre Gustot (2008) Neyts might have stayed for some time in Dordrecht around 1650 and he possibly left for Spain in 1653.

 

Between 1662 and 1666 he worked a lot along the river Meuse, in Huy and in Namur. In June 1665 he became a citizen of the city of Namur.

Probably at the end of the 1670s Neyts worked in Lille.

 

Around 1680 he must have returned to Antwerp. He died there in 1687.

 

Neyts was particularly interested in hilly landscapes where towns, houses, castles, ruins or monuments are hidden in.

His brushstroke is light, fluid and refined.

Most of his paintings are signed in full or monogrammed.

 

At the start of his career Neyts added mythological or sometimes religious figures in his landscapes. Rapidly he chose for a staffage inspired by scenes of daily life.

Although it is thought that he painted his figures himself, it is known that the Jesuit painter of religious themes Jacques Nicolaï painted the staffage in 18 landscapes commissioned by the church of the Convent of Croisiers in Namur.

 

According to Prof.-Dr. Jan De Maere Neyts was at first influenced by the School of Frankenthal (in the Pfaltz near Mannheim), where Flemish Protestant refugees had developed their own style of landscapes. After 1660 he fell under the influence of Dutch Italianate landscape painters, such as Jan Both.

 

 

Our painting represents an extensive Arcadian phantasy landscape holding at left a castle ruin inspired by the so-called Castle of Caesar in Vaulx, overlooking the river Scheldt near Tournai. That small Medieval castle dates from the 13th or 14th century. The castle was rectangular- shaped, with circular towers at its four corners. For some strange reason  it was locally said to have been built by Julius Cesar. 

 

This landscape must date from the second half of Neyts’ artistic production, from after 1660 and from before 1680 (when he changed the initials of his first name in his signature).

 

 

Because the light, fluid brushstroke and “Impressionist” technique of Gillis Neyts is absolutely stunning; do remind that the stippled treatment of the vibrant right background of our painting was painted during the second half of the 17th century in a totally modern and unusual way for Baroque painters, 200 years ahead of Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro or Alfred Sisley.