I would to know something about Fernand Claquet,painter and artist,
who painted around 1917.

---

Request for Question Clarification by huntsman-ga on 28 Jul 2002 17:40 PDT

PatrickJ,

Are you sure about the spelling of the artist's name?

Do you know any other details or examples of his work?

Thank you,
Huntsman

---

Clarification of Question by patrickj-ga on 28 Jul 2002 21:53 PDT

re fernand claquet or cloquet. I have an oil painting of a narrow
street with two women walking, one wearing a veil and there are two
steeples.It is signed Fernand Claquet,1917 and written on a small
plaque on the frame is "Fernand Cloquet,L'ancien Beguinage de Lierre".
On the back of the frame is a piece of partially torn paper with
"Cloquet,Fernand, 16 avenue alfred (?M)adouse,(I'm not sure it's M)
with "Anecein Bejuinage de lierre". patrickj-ga

Hello Patrickj-ga,

As with all answers, we Google researchers seek the satisfaction of
the customers query.  If you do not find my answers on Fernand satisfy
your enquiry please feel free to reject the Answer.  It was a joyful
experience studying the history of Beguinages at that website. 
Research is its' own reward.

In the wee hours of the morning, I placed this in the Comments section
rather than the answer section.  Although you have a lovely painting,
Fernand existed only as an unknown artist of sufficient talent to
impress those who appreciated his theme and work.  My research
indicates that this unknown artist will probably remain forever in the
mists of time, but his immortality rests in your painting.


The website offers a lovely modern photo of the Beguinage of Lier
which is probably resembles the site of your painting by Claquet.  It
is in Belgium.
Notice the one steeple on the left that is very visible while a second
steeple is barely visible on the right further up the cobblestone
pathway.
 
THE BEGUINAGE OF LIER 
 
"One of the prides of Lier is the "Beguinage" (Dutch : Begijnhof). It
dates from the 13th century and ranks among the largest and most
beautiful beguinages in Belgium.
 
Beguinages were founded in most medieval cities of the low countries
at the time of the crusades. A lot of women had lost their husbands
and wanted to live in protected communities. Most of these women,
however, did not want to join a convent or a monastery, where they had
to make vows. In the beguinages, the ladies could live like nuns or
sisters, without having to make vows that would tie them for the rest
of their lives. The system of beguinages continued to exist in the low
countries until this century. Most beguinages consisted of a group a
small houses, which, together, formed a little separate village inside
a city."
 
http://www.trabel.com/lier/lier-06beguinage.htm 
http://www.trabel.com/lier/lier-04gummarus.htm 
 
A listing of all the famous artists of Belgium does not list Fernand,
but perhaps he was visiting from France.
http://wwar.com/categories/Artists/Countries/Belgium/ 
 
A listing of all the well known artists of the world at this website
offers not one shred of acknowledgement for Fernand Claquet or
Cloquet.  It is evident from a research into the history of the art
world and its artists solidifies the unfortunate conclusion that
Fernand was not an established painter...perhaps a student or a young
artist that died of the 1917 influenza or World War I before he could
mature into a great world painter.
http://wwar.com/categories/Artists/ 
 
patrickj-ga, 
 
What you have in this painting is a treasure. An artist unknown to the
art world who stood on the cobblestones of THE BEGUINAGE OF LIER
around 1917 and painted two of its' reclusive members as well as the
steeples.  This canvas of yours has traveled much in the last 85 years
from Liers, Belgium to parts unknown. I wish I could see it!  Two
steeples of hope and two residents of the beguinage who represent
hopelessness or loneliness which was the reason for the existence of
those protective communities.
I would guard this gem as if it were a Rubins or a Monet, and pass it
on to the children as the generations roll onward tied by this link to
the past.
 
Brad-ga

brad ga found a modern photo of the beguinage de Lierre that is very
similiar to the painting that I have and his answer explains the
painting very well. Even though the Artist is unkown I feel the topic
has been thoroughly researched and documented.I learned a lot. Thank
you and I will try to post a photo of the painting, patrickj-ga.

I did a search on a database found on the Louvre museum web site:

http://www.louvre.fr/louvrea.htm

I followed the link "Base Jaconde" and did searches on both "Claquet"
and "Cloquet" and found nothing even close to Fernand.  Do you have
any location information?  Where did he live and paint?  Information
may be found in more regionalized sources.

The following link should take you directly to the French "Base
Jaconde" database pointed out by Historybuff:

   Ministère de la culture - Base Joconde
   http://www.culture.fr/cgi-bin/wave.cgi?dqi=jocobis&icon=/documentation/icones

The Louvre's Web site states that the "Base Joconde" database
"...includes 120,000 descriptions of drawings, prints and paintings
from the VIIth century to present, of the collections of over 60
museums in France."

I also searched for "fernand" on Artcyclopedia and came up with no
matches with for the surname "Claquet" or "Cloquet":

   Artcyclopedia
   Artist Name Search Results
   http://www.artcyclopedia.com/scripts/tsearch.pl?t=fernand&type=1

A chronological list of French artists throughout history contains no
matches:

   Artcyclopedia
   Artists by Nationality: French Artists
   http://www.artcyclopedia.com/nationalities/French.html 

A general Google search for "Fernand Claquet" defaults to "Fernand
Cloquet" and still gives no results:

   "Fernand Claquet" > "Fernand Cloquet" 
   ://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&q=%22Fernand+Cloquet%22+

Huntsman

The website offers a lovely modern photo of the Beguinage of Lier
which is probably resembles the site of your painting by Claquet.  It
is in Belgium.
Notice the one steeple on the left that is very visible while a second
steeple is barely visible on the right further up the cobblestone
pathway.

THE BEGUINAGE OF LIER

"One of the prides of Lier is the "Beguinage" (Dutch : Begijnhof). It
dates from the 13th century and ranks among the largest and most
beautiful beguinages in Belgium.

Beguinages were founded in most medieval cities of the low countries
at the time of the crusades. A lot of women had lost their husbands
and wanted to live in protected communities. Most of these women,
however, did not want to join a convent or a monastery, where they had
to make vows. In the beguinages, the ladies could live like nuns or
sisters, without having to make vows that would tie them for the rest
of their lives. The system of beguinages continued to exist in the low
countries until this century. Most beguinages consisted of a group a
small houses, which, together, formed a little separate village inside
a city."

http://www.trabel.com/lier/lier-06beguinage.htm
http://www.trabel.com/lier/lier-04gummarus.htm

A listing of all the famous artists of Belgium does not list Fernand,
but perhaps he was visiting from France.
http://wwar.com/categories/Artists/Countries/Belgium/

A listing of all the well known artists of the world at this website
offers not one shred of acknowledgement for Fernand Claquet or
Cloquet.  It is evident from a research into the history of the art
world and its artists solidifies the unfortunate conclusion that
Fernand was not an established painter...perhaps a student or a young
artist that died of the 1917 influenza or World War I before he could
mature into a great world painter.
http://wwar.com/categories/Artists/

patrickj-ga,

What you have in this painting is a treasure. An artist unknown to the
art world who stood on the cobblestones of THE BEGUINAGE OF LIER
around 1917 and painted two of its' reclusive members as well as the
steeples.  This canvas of yours has traveled much in the last 85 years
from Liers, Belgium to parts unknown. I wish I could see it!  Two
steeples of hope and two residents of the beguinage who represent
hopelessness or loneliness which was the reason for the existence of
those protective communities.
I would guard this gem as if it were a Rubins or a Monet, and pass it
on to the children as the generations roll onward tied by this link to
the past.

Brad-ga

Thanks, Patrickj-ga,

I also searched on Armand with no results.  I thought that Fernand and
Armand were close enough that the years might have rendered Armand
into Fernand on your painting through smudging, or general wear and
tear.

In a moment of silliness, I translated "Claquet" into English using
Google's translation.  It means "Clapper".  Of course, I just had to
search on any artist named "Clapper" as well, but with no results.

Interesting that we have two steeples in the painting and the artist's
name refers to the "tongue of a bell", or perhaps, "a person who
applauds" life!
Perhaps, steeples were his main theme as bulls were with Picasso
during certain periods.

Brad-ga