Jan Swerts

Jan Swerts (25 December 1820, Antwerp - 11 August 1879, Marienbad) was a Belgian painter of historical subjects and portraits who worked on many publicly funded commissions.

Overbeck was the leading painter of the German Romantic Nazarene movement, which aimed to revive honesty and spirituality in Christian art.

The following year the two young artists were commissioned to provide the decoration for the Onze-Lieve-Vrouw-van-Bijstand-der-Christenenkerk (Church of Our Lady of Assistance to Christians) in Sint-Niklaas, which had been constructed in the early 1840s.

[4] Swerts and Guffens were given funds by the Belgian government to attend a large exhibition of German art held in Munich in 1858 with the mission to report back.

[3] In 1859 Swerts and Guffens organized in Brussels and Antwerp an exhibition of cartons of German masters, which had an important influence on the development of monumental art in Belgium.

[4] The support of the Belgian Government for monumental art was, however, waning as it was not considered to be sufficiently in the Flemish tradition with its vivid colours, life and movement.

[3] The monumental art created by Jan Swerts and Guffens was very influential at the time and contributed to the spread of the Nazarene school's ideas in Belgium and beyond.