De Vriendt, Albrecht

DE VRIENDT, Albrecht Portrait of a cardinal. 1886 Drawing, watercolour over pencil, heightened with white, 36 x 25 cm, paper, signed and dated at upper left "A. De Vriendt 86" (brown stain at uper left). De Vriendt (1843-1900) was a Belgian painter known for his genre scenes, history paintings, interiors and figure paintings. He continued the tradition of the Belgian Romantic-historical school in the tradition of Wappers, de Keyser and Leys. Albrecht De Vriendt's principal subject matter was the glorious Belgian and Flemish history from the 15th to 17th centuries. One of the projects he worked on was the decoration of the Gothic room in the town hall of Bruges. This portrait of a resting or praying cardinal shows a great affinity to the painting De Vriendt made in 1883, depicting Pope Paul III, now in the collection of the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp (inv. 1057).