Collection ym

Ypres artist Louise De Hem is going international! The Ypres Museum is lending her beautiful pastel painting “De Zwarte Kat” (The Black Cat) to the exhibition “El pastel, la renovación de un arte” at the Casa Garriga Nogués art gallery in the heart of Barcelona. The exhibition runs until 5 January 2020.

In this crowded painting, Senave depicts the studio of Dutch painter Rembrandt van Rijn in Amsterdam. To celebrate his birthday, his students and fellow painters have organised a dinner party at a time when the painter has invited two models. They are posing for a canvas that will depict Cleopatra and Marcus Antonius.

If you look closely, you will discover a dragon at the feet of Saint Servatius on this weathered insignia. The curl of its tail is most visible (bottom left). This is not surprising, as medieval people were convinced that the dragon's greatest strength lay in its tail.

Thanks to a golden tip from two colleagues at the In Flanders Fields Museum, we tracked down a special piece of slate: a roof tile from the Belfry on which a German soldier had carved his name and place of residence: Fritz Margraff – Querfurt. British author Chris Lock had mentioned this piece of slate in his book “The Liberation of Ypres”. The Ypres Museum asked the contractors restoring the Belfry to look for the slate in question. Now the Ypres Museum is the proud owner of graffiti from the Second World War.

The Ypres Museum recently acquired this exceptionally large, original print from 1907 by Léontine Antony-Permeke. It is the largest photograph in the Antony collection and measures no less than 123 cm high and 153 cm wide (including the frame). Until now, the object was privately owned and hung for many years in a house in Ghent belonging to an exiled resident of Ypres. We are now showing the photograph to the public for the first time in the exhibition DAG JAN.

The photograph shows Louis Titz (Bruges, 1859–Brussels, 1932) at work on his easel. He is painting one of his many cityscapes of Ypres. Titz loved Ypres, and the city plays an important role in his oeuvre. He made his first working visit to Ypres in 1904 and the city continued to inspire him ever since.

Visitors to the museum will undoubtedly linger at the oldest known city plan of Ypres by Thevelin-Destreez from 1564. The giant model in the Ypres Museum is based on this city plan. You literally step into the medieval metropolis. The imagination comes to life. The recent acquisition of a townscape from 1562 gives us an even better picture of Ypres in days gone by. Hiëronymus Cock drew this copper engraving in 1562. It shows the city and its fortifications at the time from a bird's eye view. The Cloth Hall and the Grote Markt are in the centre, with various churches, fortification towers, mills and the street pattern alongside.

February is the month of love. On 14 February, we celebrate Valentine's Day and show our loved ones extra attention with flowers, gifts or cards. In 496, Pope Gelasius I declared 14 February as Saint Valentine's Day. In any case, love and showing love is something that recurs in every period. This is also demonstrated by many archaeological finds. During excavations carried out at the Meersen, the former Saint Nicholas parish in Ypres, various pieces of evidence of this were found. For example, a brooch was found with two intertwined hands, symbolising marital fidelity.

November marks the 100th anniversary of the death of internationally renowned Ypres artist Louise De Hem. We are taking this opportunity to present her work and life in a major retrospective exhibition entitled “Louise”. Our collection includes no fewer than 90 pastels and oil paintings. Most are in excellent condition, but here and there a little freshening up is needed. This is the case with “Mother and Daughter” from 1902.

The bronze sculpture “Amor in the Shell” by Edouard Fiers (1822-1894) is on display at the Dag Jan exhibition. This bronze sculpture depicts Cupid as a winged and mischievous boy. He lies naked in a shell resting on a fish, peeking around secretly. In front of him lie his familiar attributes, his bow and arrow. The sculpture is an ode to love. After all, Cupid is the god of love who pierces hearts with his bow and arrow. The fish is also a universal symbol of love. In 1932, the sculpture was exhibited for the first time as a new acquisition in the former Stedelijk Museum.

Here you can see one of Louise De Hem's earliest pastel sketches, a portrait study of an Arab. The sketch is signed at the top and dates from the period 1890-1891. Louise De Hem was living in Paris at the time, completing her training as an artist. Pastel would remain a favourite medium throughout the rest of her career.

During the week of 21 March 2022, archaeologists uncovered a landing stage and crane at the Lakenhallen. This unique find is marked with extreme precision on the historical wall map by Thevelin-Destreez from 1564. The wall map is on permanent display at the Yper Museum.