Jan Portielje (Dutch painter) 1829 - 1908
Jan Frederik Pieter Portielje was a Dutch painter. He studied under Valentijn Bing (1812-95) in Amsterdam and later with Jan Braet von Uberveldt (1807-94). In 1849 he went to the Koninklijke Academie voor Schone Kunsten in Antwerp, where he took lessons with J.-L. Dyckmans (1811-88). After this period of training he spent two years in Paris and travelled in France and Germany. Settling in Brussels, he made a name for himself as a portrait painter, especially in English circles. He also received commissions from Dutch and American patrons. Between 1857 and 1884 he took part in exhibitions in Amsterdam and The Hague. He painted genre scenes and portraits (Gypsy Woman, c. 1873; Rotterdam, Mus. Boymans-van Beuningen; Woman in Historical Costume, The Hague, Rijksdienst Beeld. Kst). He also worked with Frans Lebret (1820-1909) and Eugène R. Maes (1849-1931). His sons Edward (1861-1949) and Gerard (1856-1929) were also painters. * * * Edward Portielje (Belgian painter) 1861 - 1949 Edward Antoon Portielje was born in Antwerp on 8 February 1861. He trained under Charles Verlat (1824-90), who had taught at the Antwerp Academy since 1877 and became director of it in 1885. Like his father, Jan Frederik Pieter Portielje (1829-1908), a Dutchman, Edward Antoon Portielje devoted himself primarily to genre painting. His elder brother, Gerard Jozef Portielje, also made a name for himself as a painter. Edward Antoon Portielje died in his native Antwerp in 1949. * * * Gerard Portielje (Belgian painter) 1856 - 1929 Gérard Portielje was born in Antwerp, 6th February 1856, the son of the painter Jan Frederick Portielje (1829-1895) and brother to Edward Antoon (1861-1949). Gérard studied under his father, a genre and portrait painter born in Amsterdam who travelled widely in France and Germany, and who is best known for his paintings of elegant and sophisticated women in fashionable interiors. Gérard was also a pupil of Joseph Henri van Leruis (1823-1876), a painter of portraits and historical subjects, at the Academy in Antwerp where he continued his studies.
