Large Antique 19th Century Genre Portrait of a Boy by Adolf Heller, Oil Painting

Adolphe Keller was born in Brussels in 1880, and as a young boy showed a precocious talent for the arts. Keller was enrolled at the prestigious Brussels Academy, where, under the direction of Pieter-Jan Braecke, he was schooled in oil painting. The greatest influence on Keller came from his subsequent teacher at the Academy of Sint-Joost-ten-Node, Henri Ottevaere, who instilled within him a love of Impressionism. Upon graduating, Keller settled in the seaside town of Nieuport and established a studio. Keller was soon gaining a reputation as a painter and was beginning to exhibit his work at many of Belgium’s premier art institutions. Much of Keller’s work from this period consisted of landscapes and coastal views, although he did paint the occasional still-life and figurative piece. In 1914, at the outbreak of World War I, Keller moved to southern France, settling in Saint Tropez. Keller was to reside here until 1946, and it is paintings from this period that are the most common. Keller rarely matched the intensity of his earlier paintings, the French scenes being rather more thinly painted and slightly more monochromatic. Returning eventually to Belgium, Keller bought a house in the Rouge-Cloitre area of Brussels and started painting mostly wooded scenes, views in the Foret de Soignes. By this time, Keller had turned his attention to teaching and was made President of the influential Cercle Alfred Bastien. After he died in 1968, several important retrospective exhibitions were mounted, including ones in 1974 and 1980 at the Centre Culturel d’Auderghem. Paintings by Keller are included in several public collections, including the museums of Ixelles and Auderghem in Belgium.