Jan Van Beers, Jan Borluut, a Ghent patrician, 1879

by Atelier Liesjes

A man is sitting on a stone staircase and looks directly at the viewer. He is wearing chain mail covered by a yellow-brown linen tabard, an orange-red cloak draped over the steps, iron gloves and greaves. In his right hand he holds a long red staff with a banner bearing a yellow lion on a dark field; his left hand rests on his knee. His face is broad and serene, with a short red beard and his hair falling in a straight fringe across his forehead. Behind him is a wall with a painted pattern of climbing lions and, to the right, a stained-glass window featuring a red and blue figure. The banner hangs loosely from the staff and is painted with broad strokes; the chainmail catches the light in small, cool speckles. At the bottom, a parchment scroll winds its way down bearing the motto ‘Vlaenderen den Leeuw’ (Flanders the Lion), alongside a coat of arms featuring three golden lions on a blue field and a black lion on a gold field. Van Beers paints the fabric of the tabard with attention to every fold, but the chainmail is rendered almost as a pattern of dots. The result is a heroic, somewhat theatrical image, in which the historical figure seems above all to be playing a role: the proud burgher defending his city and county. The colours are warm and austere: ochre, orange-red, steel blue and dull gold. Jan Van Beers (Lier 1852 – Paris 1927), son of the poet Jan Van Beers, painted a series of portraits of Flemish folk heroes in 1879, including Jan Borluut and Willem van Saeftinghe. He studied in Antwerp, later worked in Paris and made a name for himself there with witty, masterfully painted portraits. This historical series is part of the Flemish revival of those years, during which the Battle of the Golden Spurs and the fourteenth century became national myths.