Karel Rousseau, Belgium, 1897. Oil on canvas depicting a copper polisher at work.

De Koperpoetser

De Koperpoetser ("The Copper Polisher") belongs to the genre-painting tradition that flourished across Belgium and the Netherlands through the nineteenth century -- pictures that found dignity in ordinary domestic labour rather than historical or religious subjects.

The 1897 date places the work at the end of the century, when Belgian genre painting was already looking back toward the Golden Age Dutch masters for its models of light and intimate space.

Title: De Koperpoetser Artist: Karel Rousseau Medium: Oil on Canvas Date: 1897 Dimensions: to be confirmed Style: Belgian Genre Painting Themes: Domestic Labour - Genre Scene - 19th Century