Paul Joseph Constantin Gabriel (1828 - 1903)

Paul Joseph Constantin (Constan (t)) Gabriel, (Amsterdam, July 5, 1828 - The Hague, August 23, 1903) was a painter, draftsman, watercolorist and etcher who belonged to the Hague school. Romance.

Life and work: Paul Gabriël was born in Amsterdam on the Leidsegracht as the fourth child of Paulus Josephus Gabriël and Trintje Peters. He came from an artistic background. His grandfather was an ornament cutter and his father was a sculptor. However, he died when son Paul was 5 years old. He grew up in a women's household, with his 5 sisters, his mother and his old grandmother. Although Paul had only known his father for a short time, he would benefit from his father's reputation as a recognized sculptor with many - including official - commissions. He also received help and protection from his father's friends.

When he was 12 years old he was enrolled as a student of the Sculpture department at the Royal Academy in Amsterdam, where his father had still taught sculpture lessons. He was taught by his father's colleague JD Zocher. He left this training without taking an exam and moved to Haarlem, where he was briefly taught 'painting from nature' by his son: Louis Paul Zocher, who designed the Kenaupark there as a garden architect. He was also an amateur painter. In 1844 his educators sent him to Cleves where BC Koekkoek had founded his drawing academy. He would stay here for a year. He was by no means enthusiastic about the training there. Yet he looked for lessons again and chose the landscape painter Cornelis Lieste, in Haarlem. He spent a lot of time there with another student, Hendrik Dirk Kruseman van Elten. They would later go to Oosterbeek together. With Mauve, who became a good friend, he attended drawing evenings in the Waaggebouw in Haarlem. Mauve was ten years younger. He first had to complete his apprenticeship in Haarlem and would therefore not come to Oosterbeek until 1858.

Gabriel meanwhile earned his money with a portrait in pencil, which he sold for ten to twelve guilders, there was also an inheritance from his father. He made many sketches for himself in pencil on paper, and also in oil paint. His early winter landscapes, eg Park of the Heemstede castle from 1853, still clearly show the impact of the Romantic style, as used by Koekkoek. The painting is also fairly smoothly painted, which clearly expresses the pure expression of everything, such as the detailed bark of the trees.