Background
Edouard De Biefve was born on December 14, 1808 in Brussels, Belgium into a noble family.
Edouard De Biefve was born on December 14, 1808 in Brussels, Belgium into a noble family.
Initially, Edouard studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Brussels. Some time later, during the period from 1828 to 1830, he attended the school of the Belgian history painter, Joseph Paelinck, who had been a pupil of Jacques-Louis David.
In 1831, the painter left for Paris, where he became a follower of Romanticism. There, in France, Edouard also attended the studio of the French romantic sculptor David d'Angers.
Edouard's romantic paintings on historic subjects got the attention of the government of the newly independent Belgian state which was looking to glorify its past as well as to foster a new cultural renaissance in Belgium. The government commissioned a work from him on a theme related to the revolt of the Spanish Netherlands against the Spanish rulers. This work, entitled "Compromise of the nobles", was exhibited in 1841.
Some time later, the kings of Bavaria and Wurtemberg also ordered paintings from him.
Thereafter, Edouard de Biefve worked for royal patrons and would occasionally receive a commission from the Belgian government, entitled "the Belgium founding the monarchy", painted for the meeting hall of the Belgian Senate in 1853. However, he no longer exhibited his new works publicly until 1875, when he showed a historic painting entitled "The episode of the banquet of the confederated nobles" at the Salon of Brussels. By that time, history painting had become a thing of the past and was replaced by the modernist movement.
As a sign of the high regard, in which Edouard was held in the German-speaking world, he was invited to become a member of the Academies of Berlin, Dresden, Munich and Vienna.