The Meersstraat in Ghent

In Belgian landscape painting, Xavier De Cock was more of a transitional artist between romanticism and realism. His landscapes are indeed based on the observation of reality, but their composition is relatively conventional. From the early 1850s onwards, he regularly travelled to France with his brother César. It was there that he discovered the new feeling for nature of the…

In Belgian landscape painting, Xavier De Cock was more of a transitional artist between romanticism and realism. His landscapes are indeed based on the observation of reality, but their composition is relatively conventional. From the early 1850s onwards, he regularly travelled to France with his brother César. It was there that he discovered the new feeling for nature of the Barbizon School, which gradually permeated his work. On his return to Belgium in 1860, he worked mainly in the outskirts of Ghent. With works such as The Meersstraat in Ghent, De Cock was successful in contemporary salons, with the public and also with the press.