530
on 5 May 1858, and immediately began lobbying the
Ministry of the Interior for support. The liberal minis-
ter Charles Rogier, sympathetic to Fierlants, referred
the matter of the Académie royale de Belgique [Royal
Academy of Belgium], which gave a favorable opinion:
“...l’Académie comme le Gouvernement, comme le
pays, doit désirer que la gloire de nos vieux maîtres soit
popularisée par tous les moyens possibles” [...the Acad-
emy, as the Government, as the country, must fervently
wish that the glory of our old masters be popularised by
every means possible] (Bulletin de l’Académie royale
de Belgique, 2nd series, 5 (1858): 77).
Fierlants had already begun his campaign in the fi eld,
taking nineteen studies of Bruges architecture and mak-
ing a request to the mayor of Bruges to photograph the
art works in the Hospice of St John. He concluded an
agreement with the publisher Victor Didron in Paris to
publish his output. Appearing under the series title Les
grands peintres avant Raphaël, photographiés d’après
les tableaux originaux [Great painters before Raphael,
photographed from the original paintings], the prints
were praised for their size and accurate capture of sur-
face tone and texture, at a time when most photographic
reproductions of paintings were not made directly from
the originals (unlike Fierlants’ work), but were rather
copy prints from engravings.
The momentum was unstoppable. Armed with favor-
able reviews and the goodwill of the Belgian govern-
ment, Fierlants received successive commissions to
record the historic art and architecture of the towns
of Antwerp (165 views taken in 1860), Brussels (114
views taken between 1862 and 1864) and Louvain (39
views taken in 1865), full-plate images characterised by
compositional rigour. He regularly exhibited his work,
most spectacularly a life-size model of the Saint Ursula
reliquary at the London international exhibition in 1862,
on which Memling’s panel paintings were represented
by Fierlants’ albumen prints, perhaps hand-coloured.
Fierlants founded the Société belge de photogra-
phie in 1862, trading from custom-built premises at
rue Keyenveld 69 (renumbered 73) in the commune of
Ixelles. He moved in with his family on 25 July 1862,
and it would serve as his studio, photographic publish-
ing house, offi ce and residence for the next fi ve years.
The company was granted a royal warrant in 1863, and
the Société royale belge de photographie Ed. Fierlants
et Companie published a stock catalogue in 1865, run-
ning to nearly 1400 items. But by this time, municipal
support was drying up; in the wake of missed deadlines
and unpaid bills, Fierlants turned to his fi nal sudsidised
project, an edition of the life-work of Belgian artist
Antoine Wiertz (1806–1865), whose singlemindedness
in pursuit of his monumental art must have chimed well
with Fierlants’ own driven outlook.
At the end of 1867, divorced and in debt, Fierlants
opened a branch portrait studio at Montagne aux Herbes
Potagères 4, moving there alone on 31 December 1867.
The studio did not enjoy commercial success, and Fier-
lants was forced to relinquish control of his company.
He died at the studio, a ruined man, on 21 December- Under the directorship of Alexandre de Blochouse
(1821–1901) from 1869 to 1885, the Société royale
belge de photographie outlived its founder’s vision of
popularising Belgium’s cultural heritage, operating as
a middling photomechanical printing press.
The municipal archives in Antwerp, Brussels and
Louvain house their respective commissioned series of
town views and monuments. These are complemented
by substantial holdings in the Bibliothèque royale Albert
Ier— Cabinet des estampes, Brussels. The Rijksmuseum
—National Photography Collection, Amsterdam, has a
comprehensive run of books photographically illustrated
by Fierlants. The municipal archives, Antwerp, also has
a contemporary set of wet-plate negatives, probably
supplied by Fierlants as part of his commission.
Steven F. Joseph
Biography
Edmond Joseph Marie Fierlants was born in Brussels on
20 July 1819 into a prominent family. In the late 1840s,
he married Isabelle Nieuwenhuys (born in 1831), and
had two children. Fierlants learnt photography in Paris
under Hippolyte Bayard. Founder member of the Société
française de photographie, Fierlants won a reputation
as the photographer of Belgium’s cultural heritage rich
in art and architecture. Fierlants received commissions
to record the historic monuments of Antwerp, Brussels,
and Louvain. Fierlants founded the Société belge de
photographie in 1862, trading from rue Keyenveld 69
(renumbered 73) in Brussels-Ixelles. Granted a royal
warrant in 1863, the Société royale belge de photo-
graphie published a stock catalogue in 1865. In 1867,
divorced and in debt, Fierlants opened a portrait studio
at Montagne aux Herbes Potagères 4. The studio did
not bring success, and Fierlants was forced to relinquish
control of his company. He died a ruined man, on 21
December 1869.
See also: Bayard, Hippolyte, and Société française de
photographie.Further Reading
Coppens, Jan, Laurent Roosens and Karel Van Deuren, “Door
de enkele werking van het licht”: introductie en integratie
van de fotografi e in België en Nederland [“By the sole ac-
tion of light”: Introduction and Integration of Photography in
Belgium and The Netherlands], Antwerp: Gemeentekrediet,
1989.
Cresens, André, 150 jaar fotografi e te Leuven [150 Years of Pho-
tography in Louvain], Bruges: Marc Van de Wiele, 1989.