Xavier Mellery

A prominent figure in Belgian Symbolism, Xavier Mellery (1845–1921) was a member of the avant-garde group Les XX. He began his studies at the Académie Royale des Beaux-arts in Brussels, under Jean-François Portaels, before spending time in Italy in the 1870s as a winner of the Belgian Prix de Rome. He took from this experience a rigour and sensibility which marked his later work as he searched for his ‘ideal’, an almost mythical goal.

His works often focus on intimate scenes of daily life and quiet interiors, as in The Bedroom (Brussels, Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, inv. 4454).

He was the author of many understated compositions in charcoal on paper, with a restricted palette of greys and browns, playing with chiaroscuro effects. In House and Garden, he describes a landscape seen from above, probably from a window. This opens onto an urban garden, surrounded by trees and dwellings, but with no human figures. In the same way as in Farms in Snow (Brussels, Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, inv. 11251), he leaves ample empty space for silence and contemplation.