Jan Weissenbruch Painting of Culemborg by Paul Meijering

Realistic painting in acrylic by the nineteenth century city painter Jan Weissenbruch depicting a scene of the courtyard at the town hall in Culemborg, all painted by artist Paul Meijering - the original painting is 120 x 90 cm.

Johannes Weissenbruch (The Hague, March 18, 1822 - there, February 15, 1880), was one of the most famous city painters of the nineteenth century. He was not only a well-known painter, but also achieved fame as a watercolorist, draughtsman, lithographer and especially as an etcher. He was a cousin of visual artist Jan Hendrik Weissenbruch.

As a young boy, Jan Weissenbruch took courses from 1835-1838 at what would later be called the Royal Academy of Art. From 1839 to 1847, he trained at the Hague Academy. Some of his teachers were Georg Hessler, Antonie Waldorp, Isaac Cornelis Elink Sterk, but especially Sam Verveer taught him the composition of city and village scenes.

Jan Weissenbruch worked primarily in The Hague, although he also spent some time in Leerdam, in Culemborg and in Belgium, where he painted St. Denijskerk (Liege), among other places. His preference was for very minutely painted cityscapes, with bridges and canals and often with sharp incident sunlight.

Barely out of the academy, in 1847, he played a role in the founding of the artistic society Pulchri Studio, along with his cousin Johan Hendrik, Willem Roelofs and the first chairman Bart van Hove. In the division of labor, Weissenbruch and Lambertus Hardenberg took charge of the organization of art reviews.

Weissenbruch was also a restorer and art collector. Among other things, he collected drawings, prints and books.

This artwork is offered by Paul Meijering

For almost 33 years now, Paul Meijering has been active with the paint brushes. As a 17- year old inspired youngster he joined the Academy of Arts in Enschede (Holland) in order to receive a native training in drawing- and painting technique.

At that time (1980) the tendency of the abstract was running riot, and to his dismay and disappointment Paul found that the trade of the ancient masters was merely 'old hat', the realistic art being disregarded and looked down upon. After two years of useless botchery, there was only one conclusion to draw: 'get autodidact, be a self-taught person!' Paul then left the academy to work for a living, but at the back of his mind there always loomed the passion of his life: to paint. At his spare time he painted and his efforts are characteristic as far as man plays an important role are concerned, or to put it in his own words: 'Each human being tinkers at his own existence, it is the source of inspiration to explain the non-verbal by way of painting'.

The paintings attracted attention at various exhibitions and he was frequently approached by trades-people, hotel-keepers, merchants. These customers were for the most part interested in large wall-paintings and decorations. In the year 2000 the painter develops a speciality that's quite unique: he applies himself to paint football pictures. After a year he gets the chance to realize an open exhibition for an indefinite time as well with the Dutch Football Union 'KNVB' in Zeist as in

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