Artois, Jean Van

, an eminent landscape painter, was born at Brussels in 1613, and having been carefully instructed in the art of painting by Wildens (as some authors imagine), he perfected himself by a studious observation of nature. His landscapes have an agreeable solemnity, by the disposition of his trees, and the breaking of his grounds the distances are well observed, and die away perspectively, with a bluish distance of remote hills and his figures are properly and very judiciously placed. His pencil is soft, his touch light and free, particularly in the leafing of his trees; and there is generally a pleasing harmony in the whole. It is said that Teniers either painted or retouched the figures of his landscapes. He is remarkable for always ornamenting the stems of his trees with moss, ivy, or other plants, the extremities of which are often loosely hanging down. His pictures are coloured with a force resembling those of Titian, except that sometimes they are a little too dark. Mechlin, Brussels, Ghent, and the gallery of Dusseldorp, were ornamented with many of his pictures. In the course of his practice, he acquired a good fortune, but is said to have dissipated it by giving entertainments to persons of rank. He died in 1665, aged fifty- two. ²