Domaine Lamoriniere is an estate located in Putte (Netherlands), founded in 1876 by the landscape painter Jean-François Lamoriniere.
Registered in the Netherlands as a "Landgoed", the site is protected by European Natura2000 legislation and incorporated (without formal authorisation) into the De Zoom -Kalmthoutse Heide cross-border nature reserve. The estate is entirely private, still owned by the painter's family and now hosts a number of activities.
Registered in the Netherlands as a "Landgoed", the site is protected by European Natura2000 legislation and incorporated (without formal authorisation) into the De Zoom -Kalmthoutse Heide cross-border nature reserve. The estate is entirely private, still owned by the painter's family and now hosts a number of activities.
History:
This property was bought on the summer solstice in 1873 by the Flemish landscape painter François Lamoriniere (Jean Pierre François Lamoriniere, 1828-1911).
The painter's family came from "La Moriniere", a French hamlet in Montreuil-en-Auge, between Cambremer and Bonnebosq, in the "Pays d'Auge" in Normandy.
The Pays d'Auge is the land of Calvados, Camembert cheese and famous for its horses.
The painter's grandfather, Thomas-Pierre Lamoriniere, was a cavalry officer in the French army who arrived in Belgium in the late 1800s. After the war, his son, Pierre-François Lamoriniere married Maria Scholastica Le Grand and they took over the running of a riding school called the 'Pfeerde Krub' in Antwerp.
Their son, Jean-Pierre François Lamoriniere, was born on the first floor of the "Pfeerde Krub" on 20 April 1828. The child became a talented student of painting, and the man became an artist...
He painted almost exclusively outdoors and travelled all over Europe to find his favourite landscapes, in Belgium, Fontainebleau and Barbizon in France, but also in Great Britain, Germany and Italy. In 1866, he married the daughter of his picture framer, Marie Henriette Lavaux.
At that time, the couple lived exclusively in Antwerp in the street now known as "Lamorinierestraat" (the former "Provinciezuid straat").
In 1873 he decided to buy a property in the middle of nature, near Kalmthout. He called it "Le Pavillon Lamoriniere". He had always been a visitor to the region, where he enjoyed painting and drawing in the summer, the dunes and the white-barked birch trees. As a member of the "Barbizon" school, of which he proudly displayed the most obvious of symbols, he had a huge influence on the beginnings of the "Kalmthout Grey School", even though he personally preferred the shaded, dark colours of green (a very specific grey-green painting still exists under the name "Vert Lamoriniere" at Blockx).
He exhibited in Antwerp, Brussels, Paris, Vienna, Prague, Rotterdam and Amsterdam. His paintings were bought on the continent as well as in Great Britain and the United States. He was a highly reputed artist and had the opportunity to welcome many personalities into his home. (An "amirocum" exists, with a collection of texts, drawings and music scores signed by his friends).
François Lamoriniere was head of the "Landscape Class" at the Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp and received numerous medals and distinctions for his work (Gold Medal in Brussels (1857), Third Class Medal in Paris (1878), Gold Medal at the Universal Exhibition in Paris (1889), Member of the Academy of Rotterdam, Prague, Antwerp, Member of the Royal Academy of Belgium, Commander of the Order of Leopold (1885), Officer of the Legion of Honour (1889), Commander of the Order of Franz Joseph of Austria (1873), Commander of the Order of St Michael of Bavaria). He officially stopped drawing and painting in 1896.
Between October 1897 and 1898, he went blind (a detached retina? A cataract?) and it was in darkness that he lived the last 13 years of his life.
Nevertheless, if we are to believe this account given to his granddaughter Isa...
"I have never painted as much as since I can no longer see"...
He had simply found another light.
Lamoriniere died in Antwerp on 3 January 1911.
The estate passed to his daughter, Isa (Lafontaine) Lamoriniere, and then to his granddaughter Isa (Nisot) Lafontaine. When she died, the main house was sold as Daisy (Van Hoeck) Nisot, the second of Isa's three daughters, was the only one loyal to the family legacy. She managed to keep most of the estate (12 of the original 18 ha), the laundryhouse, the garage, the barn and Lamoriniere's favourite: "La maison du garde", a charming little farmhouse.
(Lamoriniere painted this house on two canvases, the first version - the original - is still in the family, the second version - 'improved' - is, among others, in the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp.)
Daisy made it possible for one of her sons, Paul, to keep the estate for his youngest daughter, Sophie, who has been working hard since 2007 to bring the buildings up to more contemporary standards and maintain the grounds in accordance with nature conservation goals.
Today, the property is owned by Sophie (6th generation).
The estate offers a habitat for revalidating of hyper-sensitive horses.