1728 -1811 · Aarschot, Antwerp, Leuven, Rome and Vienna

Large figures, warm color and altar movement make Pierre-Joseph Verhaghen one of Rubens' last major heirs in the 18th century.

Pierre-Joseph Verhaghen, also named Pieter-Jozef Verhaghen, was born in Aarschot in 1728 and died in Louvain in 1811. Trained in Antwerp in the studio of Balthazar Beschey, he carefully studied Rubens, Van Dyck, Jordaens and Gaspard de Crayer. Installed in Louvain, he received numerous commissions from churches and abbeys in the Austrian Netherlands. His art voluntarily extended the Flemish Baroque tradition: monumental compositions, animated diagonals, generous fabrics and luminous colors gave religious stories a theatrical presence. The Presentation at the Temple, an immense altarpiece painted in 1767 for the former Dominican church of Ghent, is a masterful example. Around The Child presented by Simeon, architecture, priests, parents and assistants organize a ceremony that is both solemn and lively. Protected by Charles-Alexandre of Lorraine then appointed court painter to Maria Theresa, Verhaghen traveled in the early 1770s to Paris, Rome, Naples and Vienna to study the old masters. However, he did not renounce his Rubenian identity. However, he did not renounce his Rubenian identity. The suppression of convents, the Brabant revolution and the French arrival then reduced the world of sponsors who had supported his career. His work thus marks the final brilliance of a centuries-old Flemish religious tradition. The selection "Pierre-Joseph Verhaghen" thus marks the final brilliance of a centuries-old Flemish religious tradition. The "Pierre-Joseph Verhaghen" selection thus marks the final brilliance of a centuries-old Flemish religious tradition. The Presentation in the Temple. Its reading favors light.

Verhaghen does not copy Rubens: he keeps alive a painting system where color leads the gaze, gesture carries faith and the altarpiece becomes a collective spectacle.