Charles Wautier

{{Infobox artist | name = Charles Wautier | native_name = Wautiers, Woutier, Woutiers, Waultier, Wauthier, Karel Wautier, Carolus Wautier | birth_date = c.1609 | birth_place = Mons, Southern Netherlands | death_date = 2 December 1703 | death_place = Brussels | movement = Baroque | notable_works = ''Portrait of James, Duke of York'' (Royal Collection) | family = Michaelina Wautier (sister) }}

'''Charles Wautier''' (c.1609 - 2 December 1703) was a Flemish Baroque painter, active in Brussels in the second half of the 17th century. He was a brother of Michaelina Wautier (1614–1689), another painter - they may have collaborated.

==Life== Baptised in Mons on 15 August 1609, he and Michaelina were children of Charles Qautier (died 24 November 1617) and his second wife Jeanne George (died 19 June 1638), who had been born in Valenciennes.<ref name="FVG">{{cite book|access-date=15 March 2022 |author1=Félix-Victor Goethals |date=1852 |location=Bruxelles |pages=1078–1079 |title=Dictionnaire généalogique et héraldique des familles nobles du royaume de Belgique |volume=IV |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k55180837/f1078.item |via=BnF}}</ref> or more likely in Mons.{{sfn|Van der Stighelen|2018|p=17-18 et 37}} She was the only surviving daughter from her father's eleven children by two marriages.{{sfn|Van der Stighelen|2018|p=310-311}} Charles senior's family was an old and rich one from Mons, capital of the county of Hainault - since the 15th century members of the family had been town clerks, counsellors, administrators and soldiers.<ref name="FVG"/> and it was later ennobled and changed to 'de Wautier'. Charles senior had spent some time in the service of the count of Fuentes, Spanish governor of the Southern Netherlands.{{sfn|Van der Stighelen|2018|p=17}}

Charles junior and Michaelina are the only two known artists in the family and it is unclear why they both took up that profession. Neither of them ever married. Charles junior was initially considered to be a pupil of Rubens, but it is more probable that he studied outside the Southern Netherlands and the Dutch Republic, possibly in Italy according to Katlijne Van der Stighelen{{sfn|Van der Stighelen|2018|p=22}}<ref name="MBLL"/><ref name="BB">Bernadette Bodson : notice « Wautier, Charles » ''in'' {{cite book|author1=Philippe Roberts-Jones |date=1995 |isbn=978-2804120122 |location=Bruxelles |publisher=La Renaissance du livre |title=Dictionnaire des peintres belges du XIV siecle à nos jours |url=http://balat.kikirpa.be/peintres/Detail_notice.php?id=5965 |volume=III}}</ref> - he stated as much on finally signing up to Brussels' Guild of Saint Luke in 1651.

He moved to Brussels in 1633, followed by his sister around 1638–1642.{{sfn|Van der Stighelen|2018|p=22-25}} They seem to have share the same lodgings and a single studio{{sfn|Van der Stighelen|2018|p=22-25, 148}} and came to be mistaken for husband and wife.{{sfn|Van der Stighelen|2018|p=34}} They may have travelled to Italy, France and Madrid together around this time.{{sfn|Van der Stighelen|2018|p=12}} He joined the Guild in 1652, a legal prerequisite to practice as a professional painter, to sign paintings that he sold and to take apprentices.s<ref name="BB"/> Van der Stighelen records him as having seven pupils between 1653 and 1686, whilst noting that this list is probably incomplete and that none of them had major careers of their own - Tomas Monnorino, Pier Vyvier, Ambrosius (?), François Volson (or Hosson, or Volsom ?), Jan Baptist Tel, Peter van Bellen and Gillis Wauters.

As a portraitist, Charles quickly became famous among the elite, receiving commissions from princes of the Ligne and Croÿ families, from the counts of Merode and the lords of Grimbergen, and from other noble families. Whilst in exile James, Duke of York also commissioned him. He even received commissions for standing portraits from Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria. He is one of twelve painters active in Brussels to be mentioned in Namurian painter Florent du Rieu's poems honouring famous contemporary artists{{EFN|The others active in Brussels were Jan van den Hoecke, David Teniers the Younger, Peeter Snayers, Gaspar de Crayer, Michael Sweerts, Jacques d'Arthois and Jan Baptist van Heil}} - the quatrain of praise to Wautier calls him a "painter of portraits".<ref>Frédéric de Reiffenberg, « Les tableaux parlans du peintre namurois », Bulletin du bibliophile belge, Bruxelles, vol. 2, 1845, p. 209</ref>{{sfn|Van der Stighelen|2018|p=73, 148 et 153 (n.21)}}

Un 1662, Peeter Snayers, a battle-paintings specialist, obtained testimonials as to the value of one of his paintings from five renowned Brussels-based artists, namely Wautier, Gaspar de Crayer, David Teniers the Younger, Daniel van Heil and Luigi Primo.{{sfn|Van der Stighelen|2018|p=29-30, 73}} Unlike the others, Wautier wrote his certificate for Snayers in French{{sfn|Van der Stighelen|2018|p=38 (n.98)}} - it survives in Valenciennes as a confirmed signature for the painter.{{sfn|Van der Stighelen|2018|p=30, fig.16}}<ref>{{cite web|access-date=29 March 2022 |title=Certificat AA258 |url=https://archives.valenciennes.fr/tresors-darchives/epoque-moderne |website=Archives de Valenciennes}}</ref> He always signed with the French version of his name, Wautier, and he was known as "Monsieur" Wautier, though it was also spelled Wauthiers and Woutiers, which (like his sister's work) complicates research into his work and later attributions.

The brother and sister had a flourishing business, buying land, along with in 1668 a beautiful house with outbuildings near the Church of Our Lady of the Chapel. They later bought other houses in the same district of Marollen and in the district of Sablon.{{sfn|Van der Stighelen|2018|p=29-32}} Charles' last signed paintings date to 1685, although Michaelina seems to have stopped painting (or at least switched to only assisting her brother) in 1659. He was his sister's heir and after her death solely worked on his real estate and financial affairs, dying childless in Brussels aged 94.{{sfn|Van der Stighelen|2018|p=33}}

== Oeuvre == thumb|''Unknown Man'', 1656 - possibly a selfportrait. Wautier mainly painted religious works and portraits of Flemish nobility or other nobles staying in the Southern Netherlands, particularly officers serving in the Habsburg army and navy. He confined himself to those genres and produced no still lives, genre scenes or landscapes, all considered low in the hierarchy of artistic genres. The signed and dated 1656 portrait of a man in a black doublet departs from usual depictions of such men in armour or elaborate costume - he may have been a friend or relation of the artist or perhaps even the painter himself.{{sfn|Van der Stighelen|2018|p=260}} He did not work on large-scale canvases, unlike Michaelina's ''The Triumph of Bacchus''. His output was less varied and less original than hers and so he is even less discussed than her.<ref>{{cite web|access-date=29 March 2022 |author1=Pierre Dambrine |date=15 March 2018 |title=Michaelina Wautier, une femme peintre tombée dans l'oubli |url=https://wukali.com/2018/03/15/michaelina-wautier-1617-1689-une-femme-peintre-tombee-dans-l-oubli-3219/3219 |website=wukali}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|access-date=29 March 2022 |date=2019 |title=Découvrez la vie et l'œuvre de Michaelina Wautier |url=https://www.culture.gouv.fr/Thematiques/Musees/Les-musees-en-France/Les-collections-des-musees-de-France/Decouvrir-les-collections/Les-femmes-artistes-sortent-de-leur-reserve/Icones/Wautier-Michaelina |website=Ministère de la Culture}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|access-date=29 March 2022 |title=Conférence de K. Van der Stighelen le 1er juillet 2021 au musée Wallraf de Cologne |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iy-nG4_WnJg |website=youtube}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|access-date=29 March 2022 |title=Michaelina - Baroque's Leading Lady |url=https://rubenshuis.be/en/page/michaelina |website=Rubenshuis}}</ref>

His style of portraiture is similar to that of Anthony van Dyck, to whom some of his unsigned works have been misattributed in the past, and of David Teniers the Younger, though he is less skilled than both of them at depicting hands and fingers.{{sfn|Van der Stighelen|2018|p=258}} Katlijne Van der Stighelen and Pierre-Yves Kairis argue that Michaelina may have given him technical help with the hair and faces<ref name="MBLL"/>{{sfn|Van der Stighelen|2018|p=262}} and that the artists collaborated more than once on the same paintings.<ref name="PYK">{{cite web|access-date=15 March 2022 |title=Entretien avec Pierre-Yves Kairis |url=https://mas.be/fr/page/entretien-avec-pierre-yves-kairis |website=Musée MAS d'Anvers}}</ref> Van der Stighelen and Jahel Sanzsalazar argue that Charles' religious works are influenced by Caravaggio, Theodoor van Loon and Jusepe de Ribera,<ref name="MBLL"/>{{,}}{{sfn|Van der Stighelen|2018|p=25, 73-80}} particularly in their chiaroscuro effects and dark neutral backgrounds.

== Selected works == === Religious === thumb|''The Calling of St Matthew'' * ''Jesus and the Pharisees''<ref name="MBLL">{{cite web|language=en |title=Guide de l'exposition "Michaelina: Baroque's Leading Lady", pages 24-27 et 32 |url=https://issuu.com/museastadantwerpen/docs/mas_michaelina_gids_en |website=Musée MAS d'Anvers}}</ref> * ''Visitation'', formerly in the church of Saint-Augustin, Antwerp<ref name="BB"/> * ''Pope Alexander III and Saint Bernard of Clairvaux'', hôtel de ville, Louvain<ref name="BB"/> * ''Saint John the Evangelist''<ref>[https://rkd.nl/nl/explore/images/record?filters%5Bkunstenaar%5D=Wautier%2C+Charles&query=&start=0 Saint Jean l'évangéliste]</ref> * ''Saint John of Alexandria'' (attribution still to be confirmed), church of Saint-Amand, Uitkerke{{sfn|Van der Stighelen|2018|p=258}} * ''The Death of Abel'', lost{{sfn|Van der Stighelen|2018|p=77}} * ''The Calling of Saint Matthew'' ** Osterley Park<ref>{{cite web|title=The Calling of Saint Matthew |url=http://www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk/object/771213 |website=National Trust Collections}}</ref> ** musée des Augustins de Toulouse<ref>[http://www.culture.gouv.fr/public/mistral/joconde_fr?ACTION=CHERCHER&FIELD_98=AUTR&VALUE_98=WAUTIER%20Charles%20&DOM=All&REL_SPECIFIC=3 «La vocation de saint Matthieu»], Joconde, Portail des collections des musées de France</ref>{{EFN|Replica of the Osterley version.}} (c.1650) * ''Prophet'' (or ''Evangelist''), signed and dated 1652, musée des Beaux-Arts de Cambrai<ref name="MBLL"/> * ''The Miracle of Saint Eligius'' (1659), church of Saint-Servais, Gimnée<ref name="PYK"/> * ''The Presentation in the Temple'' (1661), previously Musées royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique (Brussels){{EFN|Probably lost, known from a black and white photograph.}}<ref>[https://balat.kikirpa.be/photo.php ''Opdracht in de Temple'']</ref> * ''Saint Peter Receiving the Keys from Christ'' (1685), high altarpiece for Saint Peter's Church, Leuven<ref name="BB"/>

=== History painting and mythology === thumb|''The Death of Seneca''. * ''The Death of Seneca'', Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna{{sfn|Van der Stighelen|2018|p=67-69}} * ''Apollo and Marsyas'', lost{{sfn|Van der Stighelen|2018|p=81 (n.5)}} * ''Young Bacchus Crowned with Vineleaves'' (1652), National Gallery of Prague<ref>{{cite web|access-date=15 March 2022 |title=Bacchus jeune |url=https://www.akg-images.fr/archive/Le-jeune-Bacchus-2UMDHUFIRUX9.html |website=www.akg-images.fr}}</ref>

=== Portraits === * Unknown officer in armour<ref>[https://rkd.nl/nl/explore/images/record?filters%5Bkunstenaar%5D=Wautier%2C+Charles&query=&start=1 « Portrait d'un officier »]</ref> * ''A Herald of Charles II'', Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp<ref>{{cite web|access-date=15 March 2022 |title=Un héraut de Charles II |url=https://kmska.be/fr/chefdoeuvre/un-heraut-de-charles-ii |website=KMSKA}}</ref> * ''Portrait of a Field Marshal'', château de Belœil<ref>[http://balat.kikirpa.be/photo.php?path=B189935&objnr=10154664&nr=231 « Portrait d'un feldmaréchal »]</ref>{{EFN|According to P.Y. Kairis and J. Sanzsalazar several unsigned portraits of officers in this château<ref>{{cite web|access-date=28 March 2022 |title=Collections du musée du château de Belœil |url=http://balat.kikirpa.be/results.php?linkthrough=BA&linkval=Ch%C3%A2teau+des+Princes+de+Ligne%5Bmus%C3%A9e%5D |website=KIK-IRPA}}</ref> can be attributed to Charles Wautier{{sfn|Van der Stighelen|2018|p=273-274 (n.17)}}}} * Leopold-Wilhelm von Habsburg{{sfn|Van der Stighelen|2018|p=70-71}} (1652), Hluboká Castle, Hluboká nad Vltavou (Czech Republic) * Unknown man (1656), musées royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique<ref name="MBLL"/><ref>[https://www.fine-arts-museum.be/fr/la-collection/karel-wautier-ecole-des-pays-bas-meridionaux-portrait-dhomme?artist=wautier-karel-1 « Portrait d'homme »]</ref> (possible self portrait{{sfn|Van der Stighelen|2018|p=260}}) * James, Duke of York{{EFN|An engraving of this painting by Pieter de Jode II enables it to be attributed to Wautier. It was bought for the Royal Collection by Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom in 1960}} (c.1656-60)<ref>[https://www.royalcollection.org.uk/collection/402572/james-ii-1633-1701-when-duke-of-york « James II (1633-1701) when Duke of York c. 1656-60 »].</ref> * Woman in a blue rob holding flowers<ref>{{cite web|access-date=15 March 2022 |title=Portrait d'une dame de 1660 |url=https://www.proantic.com/display.php?id=304147 |website=proantic}}</ref> (1660) * Portrait d'homme (1660), musées royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique<ref>[http://balat.kikirpa.be/photo.php?path=B117881&objnr=20025817&nr=15 « Portrait d'homme »]</ref> * Count Ferdinand Gaston Lamoral de Croÿ (c.1660), château du Rœulx<ref name="BB"/>{{,}}{{sfn|Van der Stighelen|2018|p=272, 274 (n.14)}} * Count Ferdinand-Gaston Lamoral de Croÿ et du Roeulx, château des Princes de Ligne<ref>[http://balat.kikirpa.be/photo.php?path=B189948&objnr=10154667&nr=234 Comte de Croÿ et du Rœulx]</ref> * Jacques Neutre, abbé of the Abbey of Val des Écoliers, Mons (1668), BAM<ref name="BB"/><ref name="MBLL"/>

Several other portraits (now lost or in private collections) are attested to by engravings of them by Pieter de Jode II,<ref>{{cite book|language=latin |location=Anvers |orig-date=1651-52 |publisher=Pieter de Jode |year=1739 |title=Theatrum pontificum, imperatorum, regum, ducum, principum, etc. pace et bello illustrium |url=http://bdh-rd.bne.es/viewer.vm?id=0000199430&page=1}}</ref> Cornelis Meyssens, Joannes Meyssens and Cornelis Galle.{{sfn|Van der Stighelen|2018|p=268-277}} : * Pieter de Jode II : ** Charles-Albert de Longueval, count of Bucquoy and Gratzen, baron of Vaux and Rosenberg (1651)<ref name="BB"/><ref name="MBLL"/> ** Antonio Pimentel de Prado, Spanish ambassador to Sweden and France, counsellor to and lover of Christina of Sweden (1659)<ref name="BB"/> thumb|''The Triumph of Clara Isabella de Ligne-Arenberg'' * Cornelis Meyssens : ** Ferdinando Carlo Gonzaga<ref>[https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1896-1215-48 Ferdinand Charles]</ref> (1670) ** Francisco de Velasco y Cárdenas, comte de Colmenar de Oreja ** Eugène de Berghes, count of Grimbergen and baron of Arquennes<ref name="MBLL"/><ref>[https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1869-0612-16 Eugene de Berghes]</ref> ** Florence Marguerite Van Renesse Van Elderen, countess of Grimbergen,<ref>[https://www.sudoc.fr/197385699 Florens Marguerite de Renesse]</ref> épouse du précédent ** Jean-Charles de Watteville, marquis of Conflans and count of Bussolin<ref>[https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1870-0514-1462 Jean Charle de Watteville]</ref> * Joannes Meyssens : ** Ulrich, duke of Wurtemberg, cavalry general in the Southern Netherlands (c.1650) ** Éléonore de Merode (1635–1669), countess of Hornes Hautekerque (1651) * Cornelis Galle the Younger : ** Clara Isabella, princess of Ligne-Arenberg, accompanied by Cupid, in a triumphal chariot drawn by two putti<ref name="MBLL"/> (1648)

== Gallery== ===Portraits=== <gallery heights="160" mode="packed"> Charles wautier-jacques neutre.jpg|Abbé Jacques Neutre Attributed to Charles Wautier (active 1652-60) - James II (1633-1701) when Duke of York - RCIN 402572 - Royal Collection.jpg|James, Duke of York Portrait of Baron Evrard de Fourneau de Cruyckenbourg (by Charles Wautier).jpg|Evrard de Fourneau de Cruyckenbourg aged thirteen A portrait of a gentleman in armour (by Charles Wautier).jpg|A gentleman in armour </gallery>

===Engravings after portraits=== <gallery heights="160" mode="packed"> Theatrum pontificum imperatorum regum ducum principum etc. pace et bello illustrium Material gráfico 147.jpg|Éléonore de Merode Wautier-meyssens-Retrato de Francisco Velasco y Cardenas.jpg|Don Francisco Velasco y Cárdenas Antonio Pimentel.jpg|Don Antonio Pimentel de Prado Jacobo II según wautier.jpg|James, Duke of York Theatrum pontificum imperatorum regum ducum principum etc. pace et bello illustrium Material gráfico 150.jpg|Charles-Albert de Longueval Ulrich, príncipe de Württemberg-Neuenbürg.jpg|Ulrich, duke of Wurtemberg </gallery>

== Exhibitions== Several paintings by Charles Wautier and engravings after his painted portraits were displayed at the Museum aan de Stroom in Antwerp during the exhibition "Michaelina - Baroque's Leading Lady" from 1 June to 2 September 2018.<ref>{{cite web|title=Revisit: Michaelina. Baroque's Leading Lady |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VD8bExnl_I |website=youtube}}</ref> and in "Michaelina Wautier, Malerin", an exhibition at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna from 29 September 2025 to 22 February 2026.

==Bibliography== * Katlijne Van der Stighelen (ed.), Gerlinde Gruber, Jahel Sanzsalazar, Martha Howell, Francesca Del Torre Scheuch, Ben van Beneden et al. (with catalogue, family tree of Charles senior's descendents, bibliography, index), ''Michaelina Wautier, 1604-1689: Glorifying a Forgotten Talent'', Anvers, BAI Rubenshuis, 2018, 323 p. (ISBN 978-90-8586-763-0). * Anne Delvingt, Pierre-Yves Kairis and Gerlinde Gruber (ed.s), ''Michaelina Wautier'', Vienne, Kunsthistorisches Museum, 2025, 192 p. (ISBN 978-3-99020-256-2), Charles Wautier: ''Status quaestionis'', p. 71-87.

==Notes== {{notelist}}

==References== :''In French unless otherwise noted.'' <references/> ==External links== * {{in lang|nl|en}} [https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/83107 RKDartists] * [https://www.vondel.humanities.uva.nl/ecartico/persons/8176 ECARTICO] * [http://www.getty.edu/vow/ULANFullDisplay?find=charles+wautier&role=&nation=&prev_page=1&subjectid=500078539 Union List of Artist Names (Getty)] * {{in lang|de}} [https://d-nb.info/gnd/1203738897 Deutsche National Bibliothek]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wautier, Charles}} Category:People from Mons, Belgium Category:1609 births Category:1703 deaths Category:Flemish Baroque painters Category:Flemish portrait painters Category:Flemish religious painters Category:Flemish history painters Category:Mythological painters