“The Assumption of the Virgin” 30 1/4 x 20, Oil on Canvas
Balthasar Beschey (Dutch, 1708 – 1776) was born Antwerp in 1708, studied under Pieter Strick, an unimportant painter, but imitated the styles of Van Balen and of De Craeyer. In 1753 he was admitted as a freeman of the Guild of St. Luke, and two years later became one of the six directors of the Academy in the above town, and in the year following that was elected dean of St. Luke. He died in 1776, at Antwerp, while holding the post of professor in the Academy of that city.
He painted landscapes at the commencement of his artistic career, but confined himself in after life to sacred history and portraiture. In the two latter branches of art he is well represented. His works display a taste for harmony, and are for the most part carefully executed, but are wanting in delicacy of coloring.
