A Musical Afternoon

Sunday afternoon at Sint-Anneke may not be one of Louis Van Engelen's largest paintings - it measures 130 cm by 170 cm and some of his works are gigantic panoramas - but it is without any doubt one of his most atmospheric.

The work, finished in 1887, depicts a sunny afternoon near Sint-Anneke, a small hamlet opposite Antwerp, on the other side of the Scheldt. Music plays a prominent role.

It is very likely that Louis Van Engelen was inspired by another, famous painting to create Sunday afternoon at Sint-Anneke.

La musique aux Tuileries is an 1862 painting by Édouard Manet. It is owned by the National Gallery, London and is on loan to The Hugh Lane, Dublin where it currently is on display. The painting depicts a gathering of artistic friends - writers, art critics, composers - at the weekly concerts in the Tuileries gardens in Paris.

A bourgeois theme, a depiction of artistic friends, an open-air gathering and, at its core, music: these are the characteristics Manet's and Van Engelen's paintings share.

Sunday afternoon at Sint-Anneke has a lot in common with the large Dutch, 17th-century "schuttersstukken", paintings depicting militia gatherings.

Take Bartholomeus van der Helst's Banquet at the Crossbowmen’s Guild from the Rijksmuseum, for example.

From the nonchalantly seated officer crossing his legs and the city skyline in the background, to the glasses on the tables and the conversing small groups around those tables: there are many similarities. And in both cases, the result is a who's who of the city's bourgeoisie

In 1884 Antwerp hosted a World's Fair. The Exposition Internationale d'Anvers was a celebration of commerce and colonialism, technological advances and the arts.

The fair took place on the right bank. But on the left bank smart entrepreneurs created large venues where tired tourist and inhabitants of Antwerp could repose. One of the most famous venues was the Café Belvédère, the setting of Van Engelen's painting.

Across the river, on the right bank, the gable and towers of the Vleeshuis can be seen.

By 1887, the Vleeshuis, the fomer hall of the butchers' guild, had been standing proudly in the historical heart of Antwerp for almost 4 centuries. By that time the buildings was in use as a warehouse.

Twelve years later, in 1899, the City of Antwerp purchased the building and a period of restoration began.

In 1913 the Vleeshuis opened as a Museum of Applied Arts. Today Museum Vleeshuis | Sound of the City is completely devoted to Antwerp's music life.

Most people in Antwerp had a day off on Sunday. That meant that there was time for relaxation. Cafes did good business, and in many places there was music, often played from music kiosks.

It is of course not possible to deduce from the painting what music the blind guitar player performed. In the 19th century the guitar was very popular and there was a wide range of music for the instrument, from original works (such as the étude by the French composer Napoléon Coste that can be heard here) to adaptations of top hits from operas.

Museum Vleeshuis preserves many 19th-century guitars. Some are decorated very elaborately, but some are very simple, such as this French instrument by Marotel.

There is a special connection between Louis Van Engelen and Museum Vleeshuis.

Louis Van Engelen's grandfather was François Joseph Van Engelen (1785-1853). The latter had founded a workshop for brass wind instruments in Lier, near Antwerp, in 1813. That studio would grow into perhaps the largest Belgian producer of brass wind instruments. Production continued until the 1970s.

In 1999 Museum Vleeshuis managed to save the contents of the workshops. A selection has been permanently installed in the basement of the Vleeshuis since 2007.

This horn is a very fine example of the instruments made by the Van Engelen workshops.

Peter Benoit (1834-1901) was a mythical figure in Antwerp musical life in the late 19th century. He was the driving force behind the creation of the Antwerp Conservatoire and the Flemish Opera, and he wrote piano works, church music, grand oratorios and operas. Franz Liszt called Benoit the Rubens of music.

Peter Benoit died in 1901 in his house on the Oude Beurs, in the shadow of the Vleeshuis.

There is a very particular link between Peter Benoit and Museum Vleeshuis:

In the 1880's Peter Benoit purchased a Pleyel grand piano (Paris, 1884) for the Royal Conservatoire of Antwerp. The instrument was used by several generations of conservatoire directors and students. By 1967 the instrument had become too "old-fashioned" and was moved to Museum Vleeshuis.

Thanks to the Peter Benoit Fund, in 2020-2021 the instrument will be restored to its original condition so it can once again be heard during concerts.