About Vincent De Vos
Belgian painter
Courtrai 1829 – 1875 Courtrai
Animal painter.
Also known as Joost-Vincent De Vos.
He was the son of a miller.
Pupil in his native Courtrai (Kortrijk) at the local Academy and of Edouard Woutermaertens (1819 – 1897), who was above all a painter of sheep. Woutermaertens had studied during six years under the animal painter Louis Robbe.
De Vos specialised in painting dogs and monkeys, which he depicted with a lot of sense for psychology, sometimes even in a rather humouristic way. He regularly portrayed circus animals, as is the case in our small painting. He was very successful in Belgium and France, but also in the USA.
According to Eugène de Seyn he kept several animals in his workshop: monkeys, wolves, foxes and even a camel. In 1870 he travelled to Italy, where he also worked.