Louis Gallait

Flemish painter; born at Tournai, 10 May, 1810; died in Brussels, 20 November, 1887. He produced melodramatic and sensational pictures, very much on the lines of those of Ary Scheffler, with a leaning towards the pathetic and emotional side. Gallait was, however, a more accomplished painter than Scheffer, with whom his works have frequently been compared. His colouring was superior, and his drawing more accurate, but the two men were possessed of similar devotional fervour, and poetic emotion of a sentimental type. Gallait was a youthful prodigy, and produced his first picture when ten years old, obtaining an important local prize. One of his earliest performances was purchased by the municipal authorities of Tournai and presented to the Cathedral, and it was owing to the generosity of his own townspeople that he was enabled in 1835 to go to Paris and study under Hennequin. He became a member of the Institute of France, and honorary foreign Royal Academician. Several of his pictures were exhibited in London in 1862, and three at the Royal Academy in 1872, when he was residing at 51 Bedford Square. He painted in water-colours as well as in oil, and was made an honorary member of the Royal Institute.