Belgian, 1819 -1897
Edouard Woutermaertens was born 15th August 1819 in Courtrai where he died on the 30th October1897 and was the brother of Constant Woutermaertens.
Edouard Woutermaertens trained for six years with the artist Louis Robbe, an animal painter, at the Courtrai Academy and specialised in the painting of sheep. Woutermaertens was also influenced by the French artist, Constant Troyon. He was a regular exhibitor at the Brussels and Paris Salons.
This extremely naturalistic depiction of sheep demonstrates Woutermaertens’ skill in his representation of the natural world. Though sheep carry obvious connotations of Christianity, here they merely create a picuresque subject matter, perhaps designed to be sold on the open market.
As in the Netherlands, the weather is a dominant feature of Woutermaertens’ work, whose pastoral scenes were popular with British nineteenth-century collectors.
His work can be seen in the museums of Bruges, Courtrai and Hamburg.
Goldsmith, Walter – Outside the Farmyard