Joseph Middeleer

Joseph Middeleer (Ixelles, 1865 – Assebroek, 1934 or 1939)[1] was a Belgian painter and aquarellist known for his genre scenes, figures, landscapes and still lifes.

The first one was L'Union des Arts that existed from 1876 to 1885 and organised group exhibitions of works of visual artists.

Other members of this association included Louis Baretta, Marie De Bièvre, Charles Defreyn, Jules Dujardin, Joseph Flameng, Ernest Hoerickx, Louis Ludwig, Léon Massaux, René Ovyn, Emile Rimbout, Pieter Stobbaerts, Flori Van Acker and Henri Van der Taelen.

After the L'Union des Arts became defunct, Middeleer was together with Franz Meerts and others a co-founder of a new association for young artists, which was given the Dutch name Voorwaarts ('Forward') in 1885.

Later, others joined including Theodoor Verstraete, Emile Claus, Adrien-Joseph Heymans, Gustave Vanaise, Alfred Verhaeren, Victor Gilsoul, Eugène Laermans, August De Bats, Henri Ottevaere and Emile Van Doren.

Delville supported idea-based art which expresses philosophical ideals derived from contemporary hermetic and esoteric traditions.

Middeleer was influenced by this line of thought as is evident from the prominent presence of the Christ figure on several of his drawings.

A well-known symbolic painting by Middeleer is The demoniac that is sometimes compared to Fernand Khnopff's Sleeping Medusa.

[9] Middeleer illustrated the three-volume publication L'art flamand written by Jules Dujardin, published in 1896.

[10] He accompanied his master Franz Meerts to Florence in Italy, to assist him in copying the large Portinari Altarpiece of Hugo van der Goes.