Theodore Gerard (Belgian, 1829 to 1895)
Gerard was an academically trained artist who excelled at scenes of rural Belgian life. His often idyllic depictions of peasants, farmers, and other country folk are imbued with his belief in the nobility of the common man. Gerard studied at the Academy of Gand and the Academie des Beaux-Arts in Paris, and was a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Brussels. A popular and successful painter during his lifetime, he won exhibition medals in Brussels, Vienna, Philadelphia, and London.
Information courtesy of Neal Auction Company, February 2009.