Daniel van Heil specialised in spectacular, imaginary views of burning towns, mixing fantastic and real architectural elements of Antwerp and of Brussels. Usually his skies are dark, the events were set at night, here for once he has painted a beautiful blue sky. Van Heil sometimes monogrammed his paintings with his initials DVH, our painting is one of his rare fully signed works.

 

 

Flemish painter

Brussels circa 1604 – 1662 Brussels

 

Landscape painter.

Son and probably pupil of the painter Léon I van Heil, whom nothing is known about.

 

Master in the Brussels Painter’s Guild of Saint Luke in 1627. He was its dean in 1648 and in 1654.

He had six pupils between 1643 and 1660, amongst whom his own son, Théodore, who specialised in panoramic landscapes.

 

Our painter specialised in both warm and cold landscape subjects. 

He painted either views of burning towns with magnificently rendered flames (be it contemporary views inspired by Antwerp and Brussels, or mythological and biblical subjects set in Troy or Sodom and Gomorrah) or winter landscapes.

Occasionally he also painted Italianate landscapes with ruins.

 

Although the differences between both painters are obvious, confusion reigns between Daniel van Heil and the Dutch landscape painter Dirck Verhaert, as both painters occasionally used the same monogram "DVH". Our painting is one of the very rare, fully signed pictures by van Heil.

 

 

Daniel van Heil has regularly painted seemingly realistic views of fiercely burning towns, holding buildings that might have stood in Antwerp or Brussels: one often “recognizes” the towers of the Cathedral of Antwerp or of the Town hall of Brussels. His goal was not to render actual views of these towns, but to paint spectacular, brightly coloured infernos. He depicted almost all these towns ablaze at night. Our fully signed painting is unique for van Heil has set this dramatic event in the daytime, against a beautiful blue sky.

 

In the past his fictitious burning towns were often identified as Antwerp or Brussels. These paintings were then given rather bombastic titles.  

 

 

Because for once van Heil has pictured the spectacular drama under a beautiful blue sky in this rather uniquely fully signed painting.