Leo van Heil

Leo van Heil[1] (Brussels, 1605 – c.1664), was a Flemish architect, painter and miniature painter mainly of flowers and insects. He is chiefly remembered for his designs of the Brigittines chapel and the tower of the Saint Nicholas Church, both in Brussels.[2]

Leo van Heil
Leo van Heil by Frans Denys
Born1605, Brussels
Died1664 (aged 58–59), Brussels
NationalityFlemish
Known forArchitecture, painting, printmaking
MovementBaroque

Life
Brigittines chapel in Brussels

Leo van Heil was born in Brussels. He had two brothers who were also artists: Jan Baptist van Heil was a portrait painter and Daniel van Heil was a landscape painter specialising in winter scenes or burning fires.[3]

When in 1648 Erasmus Quellinus was given the general artistic direction over the decorations for the Joyous Entry into Antwerp of the newly appointed governor of the Habsburg Netherlands Archduke Leopold Wilhelm, Leo van Heil worked as Quellinus' architectural assistant.[4] The Archduke became his patron and appointed him as his court architect and commissioned various projects from van Heil, including a stone gate for the Archduke's palace in Brussels.[5]

The painter and printmaker Renier Meganck, who later worked as a court painter in Vienna, became a pupil of Leo van Heil in Brussels in 1656.[6]

Work

In his time Leo van Heil was known as an architect, painter of flowers and insects and other small animals and perspectives (i.e. architectural works).[5] His drawing of Tongerlo Abbey served as model for a print of Tongerlo Abbey in bird's eye perspective made by the engraver Wenceslaus Hollar.[7]

References
  1. Name variations: Leo Van Heil, Leonard van Heil, Leo Heil
  2. Renier Meganck, Hunting still life of birds at Jean Moust
  3. Jan Baptist van Heil biography in De groote schouburgh der Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen (1718) by Arnold Houbraken (in Dutch)
  4. Reginald Howard Wilenski, Flemish Painters, 1430-1830, Volume 1, Viking Press, 1960
  5. Cornelis de Bie, Het gulden cabinet van de edel vry schilderconst, published by Jan Meyssens, Juliaen van Montfort, Antwerp, 1662, p. 527 (in Dutch)
  6. Renier Meganck at the Netherlands Institute for Art History (in Dutch)
  7. Bird's eye view of the Tongerloo Abbey, near Westerlo at the British Museum

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