Portrait of the Art Critics Paul and Luc Haesaerts, 1932

Edgard Tytgat liked portraying people he knew, including his wife, family, friends and acquaintances. This is a double portrait of Paul and Luc Haesaerts. These brothers were many-sided characters who engaged in a variety of activities, as architect, director and art critic. Luc studied law, philosophy and history and Paul went to the art academy. Together they made films, founded the Journal des Beaux-Arts magazine and wrote numerous pieces of art criticism. Their most notable joint production was Flandre, a substantial volume on art in Flanders from 1880. The two brothers are here posing seated at a table on which the book is displayed. Tytgat portrayed them here primarily in their capacity as art critics. Next to the book lie several illustrations of his own paintings and of a portrait of Tytgat painted by Paul Hasaerts.