"Musin François Belgian School 19th Marine Ships Leaving The Port XIXth Oil Painting Signed Canvas"
MUSIN François ( 1820 / 1888 )
Ships leaving the port.
Oil on canvas signed at the bottom right.
73 x 118 cm
François MUSIN
François-Etienne Musin (October 4, 1820, Ostend / October 24, 1888, Saint-Josse-ten-Noode) is a Belgian painter specialized in seascapes.
His father was an innkeeper farmer, shipbuilder and oyster farmer who had spent some time in a penal regiment for desertion during the Napoleonic Wars. As a child, he paid more attention to the sea than to his studies. His artistic talent was discovered when he was locked up in the attic as punishment and used a piece of charcoal to draw a view of the Ostend docks on the wall.
In 1831, he received his first lessons from Michel Van Cuyck and François-Antoine Bossuet, who would later become famous for his Vedute, but was still working for the port of Ostend at that time. Later he participated in the Academy of Fine Arts of the city and obtained a gold medal in 1835. At that time, he had already gained some experience with sailing ships while taking care of his father's oyster beds.
He continued his studies at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Brussels, where he studied with François-Joseph Navez. In parallel, he makes drawings of surgical interventions in the operating room of Doctor Louis-Joseph Seutin, with the intention of publishing them in a manual. In 1839, he was enlisted in the army, but his father paid for a replacement (a common practice at that time). In 1840, he began to exhibit and moved to Brussels in 1842. His career being well advanced, King Leopold I bought two of his paintings in 1845.
Due to the interest in his art that existed in England, he spent some time there, he also travels to Spain and Portugal. He returned home in 1848 when his father fell ill. In 1849, he married the painter Marie-Célestine Gosselin (1826-1853). After the untimely death of his wife, he gave his share of the family business to his brother Auguste, in return, for the studio and the exhibition space in the family restaurant. He had also acquired a public land where he built the "Pavilion of the Dunes", the first structure on the beach, where he rented and also sometimes used as a studio. In 1863, Leopold I built his royal pavilions nearby, which inspired a real estate boom and in 1865, Musin converted the Pavilion into a hotel. It was sold in 1877, demolished in 1879 and replaced by the "Splendid Hotel" which was destroyed during the Second World War.
During these years he traveled a lot, visiting Portugal, the Alps, France, North America and Norway, where he participated in a whaling expedition. All these trips produced a lot of sketches that were elaborated in his studio. In 1869, he finally settled in Saint-Josse-ten-Noode where he built a huge garden studio, collected maritime antiques and gave his son Auguste his first art lessons.
Since Kaiser Wilhelm I commissioned eight marines from him in 1853, royal clients have been an important source of his income. In 1865, two paintings were purchased by the royal family of Württemberg and in 1873, two were acquired by al-Din Naser Shah Qajar. In 1869, the Museo del Prado bought his painting "The Shot Cannon - Signal for the Cadíz Revolt", and he received the Order of Charles III. Curiously, the Belgian government did not buy his works until 1880.
He died of a stroke. His friends and family portrayed him as a pleaser who was always in a good mood and ready to tell about his many adventures.
Collect : 
Municipal Museum of Fine Arts of Ixelles, (Brussels)
Kunstmuseum aan zee, Ostend
Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels
Town Hall, Blankenberge
Smidt Van Gelder Museum (nl), Antwerp
Prado Museum, Madrid
National Maritime Museum, Greenwich
Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal
Sanssouci Palace, Potsdam
Museum of Fine Arts of Reims
Castle Uppark House.
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