Pierre Jan van der Ouderaa (Belgian, 1841-1915)
Foor in de Oude Buers te Antwerpen
signed and dated 'P.VANDER OUDERAA/Antwerpen 1892' (lower right)
oil on canvas
138 x 203.5cm (54 5/16 x 80 1/8in).
Footnotes:
Provenance
With De Vuyst Kunstgalerij, Lokeren.
Private collection, UK.

Pierre van der Ouderaa was a native of Antwerp, and studied at its Academy, where he was tutored by such celebrated artists as J. Jacobs, J. van Lerius and N. de Keyser. He continued his artistic education with visits to Italy from 1866 to 1869.

Van der Ouderaa's earlier works were romantic genre scenes, before he switched his focus to historical genre, of which the present lot is a stunning example. Following a trip to Palestine in 1893 with friends M. Rooses and K. Ooms, van der Ouderaa devoted himself almost entirely to religious and Orientalist genre scenes.

Settling back in Antwerp, van der Ouderaa became a professor at the Higher Institute of Fine Arts. He received much recognition for his work, including second place in the Prix de Rome in 1865; he was also decorated as a Knight in the order of Leopold in 1881. His work is represented in museums in Antwerp and Brussels.

Emile-H. van Huerck described van der Ouderaa as 'an inveterate academist and traditionist'1, skills brilliantly demonstrated in the present lot. The scene is set against the backdrop of the old bourse of Antwerp; originally built in 1531, it was the world's first purpose-built commodity exchange, and the model for exchanges across Europe, including London's Royal Exchange. Van der Ouderaa used the backdrop for a number of his works; see for example The song of love (sold in these rooms, 1 March 2011, lot 193).

1P. & V. Berko, Dictionary of Belgian painters born between 1750 & 1875, Brussels, 1981, p. 680.