Jacques Mels - Mechelen (Limburg) - Sold

Mixed media 38x58, signed lower left J. Mels and dated 1943, well framed, frame size 51x71
Provenance: art dealership J. vd Elshout, asking price at the time E 425.00

Jacques Mels 1899-1974

Jacobus Wilhelmus Aloyisius Adrianus Maria (nickname Jacques) Mels was born in Tilburg and trained there as a house painter. When he is 20 he enters the novitiate (RK) and on his 29th he is placed in Curaçao, where he teaches painting and drawing at a craft school under the name Brother M. Caecilianus Mels. Almost 40 years and back in the Netherlands he is secularized. From now on he wants to devote himself entirely to that other vocation, namely painting. Mels lives successively in Maastricht, The Hague and Epe. In 1959 he leaves for Brazil with his wife Wilhelmina, whom he married in 1951. After a year, however, Wilhelmina leaves him and the marriage is dissolved. Jacques stays in South America until 1967, including in Venezuela and Costa Rica, and then returns to his native country. He died in The Hague at the age of 75. All in all an unusual life!
Jacques Mels is best known for his somewhat dark and mysterious, gracefully painted South Limburg summer and winter landscapes under fascinating cloudy skies.
The natural talent Jacques Mels was briefly taught by Harmen Meurs and Antoon van Welie and was a member of the Apeldoorn Artists Association 'De Kern'. Furthermore, he is above all a modest 'loner'. His work is included in the National Art Collection and in many private collections in the Netherlands and far beyond.