Artist: Adolphe Van Elstraete (1862-1939)
Title: Still Life with Apples and Pears
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Dimensions: Height 56 cm, Width 67 cm

Description: Immerse yourself in the timeless beauty of Adolphe Van Elstraete's masterpiece, "Still Life with Apples and Pears." With each brushstroke, the artist captures the essence of these everyday fruits, elevating them to the realm of art. The play of light and shadow creates a captivating interplay of textures, revealing the lusciousness of the apples and pears.

Van Elstraete's signature in the lower right corner is a testament to his artistic prowess, and his careful attention to detail shines through in the delicate rendering of each fruit. The composition invites you to appreciate the simple yet profound beauty of nature's bounty.

Measuring 56 cm in height and 67 cm in width, this painting commands attention with its vibrant colors and meticulous execution. The artist's skillful handling of the medium brings the subject to life, allowing you to almost taste the sweetness of the ripe fruits.

"Still Life with Apples and Pears" by Adolphe Van Elstraete is a masterpiece that transcends time, inviting you to connect with the inherent beauty of the everyday and experience the joy of artistic expression.

Adolf Van Elstraete ( Aalst , July 10, 1862 – Tienen , October 30, 1939 ) was a Belgian painter .

Adolf Van Elstraete was educated in Leuven at the Municipal Academy of Fine Arts . He mainly worked in Leuven - where he lived at number 22 Vaartstraat. He was inspired by the old city center, the Groot-Begijnhof , the banks of the Dyle and the nearby forests. He also painted interiors, flowers, still lifes and figures (including southern female types).

Van Elstraete was co-founder and chairman of the Cercle Royal Artistique/ Koninklijke Kunstkring van Leuven . Other members of this association were: painter René Dekeyser (1883-1936), etcher Ferdinand Giele (1867-1929), painter Ernest Faut (1879-1961) and sculptor Antoine Jorissen (1884-1962). Léon François Van Buyten (1878-1955), was a board member of the aforementioned circle and in the 1920s took many photos of his fellow members, their works and their exhibitions, including those of Van Elstraete.

Van Elstraete was awarded a silver medal of honor at the 1904 world exhibition in Saint-Louis (United States), the so-called "Louisiana Purchase Exposition".

In the period from September 10 to October 8, 1914, the artist drew the ruins of the almost completely burnt-out city center of Leuven: the town hall and St. Peter's Church, the Grote Markt, the Kortestraat, the Oude Markt, the University Hall, the Krakenstraat, the ( rebuilt) Brouwershuis, Tiensestraat , Margarethaplein, Diestsestraat , Leopold Vanderkelenstraat, former Statiestraat (now Bondgenotenlaan), Vaartstraat, Schrijnmakersstraat, Pensstraat, Mechelsestraat , Brusselsestraat , Parijsstraat and Drinkwaterstraat. The drawings and etchings also include Alfred N. Delaunois(1875-1941), made from the rubble of his city, despite the German ban. This prohibition also applied to Van Elstraete. But the trauma of this experience was apparently stronger than an enemy ban.

Exhibition
From 15 to 29 October 1922, Adolf Van Elstraete and Rene Dekeyser exhibited in the Zwarte Zustersstraat in Leuven. Dekeyser exhibited cityscapes and rural landscapes from the area (nos. 36 to 52); Van Elstraete showed a series of cityscapes from before the destruction: from 1914 "Oeuvres de la Série des Tableaux et Aquarelles du Vieux-Louvain" (nos. 1 to 35), together with lithographic adaptations thereof, and a "Série de dessins originaux et aquarelles Ruins de Louvain (1914)".

Literature
V. De Munter, Ville de Louvain. Catalog du Musée Communal Vanderkelen-Mertens, Leuven, 1927, p. 70, nos. 225 to 229.
P. Bautier (cs), Dictionnaires des peintres, Petits *Dictionnaires des lettres et des arts en Belgique, Brussels, sd, p. 206;
Louvain art of the 20th century (exhibition cat.), Leuven, Municipal Museum, 1971, no. 248;
Illustrated Biographical Dictionary of Artists in Belgium after 1830, sl, Arto, 1991, p. 379;
P. & V. Berko, Dictionary of Belgian and Dutch flower painters born between 1750 and 1880, Knokke-Zoute, 1995, sv;
P.Piron, The Belgian Visual Artists of the 19th and 20th Centuries, Brussels, 1999, p. 1415;
Allgemeines Kunstlerlexikon, Vol. XXXIII, Munich-Leipzig, 2002, p. 406-407.
L. Van Buyten and P. De Craan, A. Van Elstraetes ruins of Leuven in 1914, in: Arca Lovaniensis, 32, 2003, Leuven, 2004, p. 67-96.