Suvée worked on several commissions for the prominent Van Outryve family from Bruges. In this work, he portrays Augustin, a successful businessman, shipowner and maritime insurer. He took over his aunt’s flourishing trade in fabrics, pottery, tea, tobacco,.... The inscriptions Paris, Hollande, Allemagne [Paris, Holland, Germany] on the files indicate the international character of his business, which at the time was one of the most important companies in Bruges.

MASTERPIECE

If we look closely at this painting, we see that the artist has painted the head of the person portrayed on a small piece of canvas. He then carefully incorporated this into the larger composition at a later date. There is no doubt that Suvée painted the facial features of Augustin van Outryve from life and that he finished the rest of the painting later, in his studio. On the document that Augustin holds in his left hand, we read that Suvée completed this canvas in the month of June, in 1782, in Paris: ‘J.B. Suvée fecit Paris le 12 juin 1782’.

Suvée probably painted the small canvas with the merchant’s stern facial features during his stay in Bruges, in the spring of 1780, that is to say, two years before he completely finished the large portrait. Suvée spent no less than three months in his hometown at this time. He stayed with his friend, Emmanuel-Louis van Outryve d’Ydewalle, a younger cousin of Augustin van Outryve. During his months in Bruges, Suvée received a number of commissions, from the local clergy and from various dignitaries as well as art lovers who wanted to be portrayed by him. This included the leading Van Outryve family, who repeatedly called on Suvée for a portrait. These were usually bust or half-body paintings. The portrait of Augustin is the only one for which the artist used a larger-than-life format.