JEAN

See also:

• BAPTISTE

BAPTISTE

See also:

• JEAN BAPTISTE MADOU (1796-1877)

MADOU (1796-1877)  , Belgian painter and lithographer, was born at Brussels on the 3rd of February 1796 . He studied at the Brussels Academy of Fine Arts and was a pupil of Francois . While draughtsman to the topographical military division at Courtrai, he received a commission for lithographic work from a Brussels publisher . It was about 1820 that he began his artistic career . Between 1825 and 1827 he contributed to Les Vues pittoresques de la Belgique, to a Life of Napoleon, and to works on the costumes of the Netherlands, and later made a great reputation by his work in La Physionomie de la societe en Europe depuis 1400 iusqu' a nos jours (1836) and Les Scenes de la vie des peintres . It was not until about 184o that he began to paint in oils, and the success of his early efforts in this medium resulted in a long series of pictures representing scenes of village and city life, including " The Fiddler," " The Jewel Merchant," " The Police Court," " The Drunkard," " The Ill-regulated Household," and " The Village Politicians." Among his numerous works mention may also be made of " The Feast at the Chateau " (1851), " The Unwelcome Guests " (1852, Brussels Gallery), generally regarded as his masterpiece, " The Rat Hunt" (acquired by Leopold II., king of the Belgians), " The Arquebusier " (1860), and " The Stirrup Cup." At the age of sixty-eight he decorated a hall in his house with a series of large paintings representing scenes from La Fontaine's fables, and ten years later made for King Leopold a series of decorative paintings for the chateau of Ciergnon . Madou died at Brussels on the 31st of March 1877 . For a list of his paintings see the annual report of the Academy of Belgium for 1899 . (F .