About the artist:

Petrus van Schendel was born in Terheyden (Breda) and died in Brussels. He studied at the Academy of Antwerp under Van Bree and worked there from around 1822 to 1828, exhibiting the same time. After his extensive travels, he lived in Amsterdam between 1830 - 1832, followed by six years in Rotterdam and Den Haag from 1838 before finally settling in Brussels around 1845. Schendel was a Member of the Academy of Amsterdam, and of ‘Arti Sacrum’ in Rotterdam. He was a prolific artist exhibiting at Salons in Amsterdam, Antwerp and Den Haag between 1827 - 1867. Exhibition at the Salon in Brussels, Gent and also at the Royal Academy in London followed. He was awarded medals at most of these exhibitions including a Gold Medal from the Brussels Exhibition 1845. He began his career as a genre and portrait painter and engraver, painting historical and biblical subjects. It was not long, however, before he developed the style that was to make him one of the most popular romantic painters of his time. A master of the nocturnal scene, van Schendel’s work owes much to the seventeenth century tradition of Dutch candlelit paintings. His work can now be seen in the Museums of Kortrijk, Leper, Amiens, the Rijks Museum Amsterdam, Groningen, Hannover; Leipzig, Melbourne, Montreal, Munich, Nice, Rotterdam and Stuttgart.