Le Destin

The Ypres Museum has acquired a beautiful new work of art. Le Destin by Poperinge artist Louis Delbeke (1821-1891) is now part of the Ypres museum collection. Delbeke is best known for his murals in the Cloth Hall, which were unfortunately destroyed during the First World War. He painted this oil painting in 1866. In the same year, he exhibited it at the Brussels Salon. It then disappeared into private hands, until now.

Tombola

In 1866, Delbeke painted subjects from everyday life for the first time. Being the maverick that he was, he chose subjects that were not very obvious. In Le Destin, he illustrates how the nobility and bourgeoisie practised poor relief and charity by organising a tombola. Wealthy citizens donate the objects and the proceeds go to charity. Such a tombola is a real society event. Seeing and being seen are at least as important as the tombola itself. Le Destin is full of details, has an original composition and is very colourful. The work contains humour and many double meanings. For example, the title refers to the tombola itself – fate – but also to human destiny.

Fine fleur

In a rich, bourgeois interior, the tombola is in full swing. The scene at the top left is a painting in itself. A young girl, the innocent hand of a child, pulls a ticket from the drum. The master of ceremonies and a whole row of nuns in white caps watch to make sure everything is going according to plan. After all, the proceeds go to their institution. The hall is filled with beautifully dressed spectators. It is the fine fleur of society.

On the left is a lady looking through the catalogue. Next to her, a young man and a young lady are much more interested in each other than in the tombola. They are clearly flirting. Will the fate of this young lady be sealed here? In the centre, a seminarian in a white robe admires the portrait of a pope. He dreams of the same fate. On the far right, a soldier studies the large portrait of Napoleon on a rearing horse with his lorgnette. He too dreams of such a career.

On the portraits of the pope and Napoleon, we see two white spots. These are reflections of the candlelight illuminating the room. Other painters would ignore and correct this. But Delbeke's realism goes so far that he also depicts the reflections.

Fashionable and exotic

The meticulously rendered clothing and hairstyles of the many characters give a very good idea of the fashion in 1866. The furniture and decoration of the room also perfectly illustrate what a bourgeois interior looked like at the time. The objects from the tombola can be found scattered throughout the painting. A few Asian objects catch the eye: on the right, a strikingly large Chinese vase, and further on, a porcelain Chinese god. Delbeke refers here to the bourgeoisie's fondness for exotic, oriental objects. They brought them into their homes en masse. In the nineteenth century, one craze followed another: Egyptomania, Chinoiserie and Japonism.