Bengal fire evening in the Vaux-Hall, Park of Brussels, Petrus van Schendel
Petrus Van Schendel was a Dutch-Belgian genre painter in the Romantic style who specialized in nighttime scenes, lit by lamps or candles. This led to him being known as "Monsieur Chandelle".
On the advice of a family friend, who was a retired army officer, his father sent him to study at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp. He studied there from 1822 to 1828 with the history painter Mattheus Ignatius van Bree, and received a gold medal for "Perspective" upon graduating.
