(b Antwerp, 11 Dec 1742; d London, 28 June 1810). Flemish painter and draughtsman, active also in France and Britain. He studied in Antwerp under Hendrik Josef Antonissen (1737–94) and became a member of the Guild of St Luke there in 1770. Four years later he was appointed painter to Archduke Maximilian. He moved after 1776 to Paris, where he was received (reçu) into the Académie Royale in 1779 and made painter to the Prince de Condé, for whom he executed two views of Chantilly (both 1781; Chantilly, Mus. Condé). On his return to Antwerp in 1781, de Cort co-founded an art society known as the Konstmaatschappij. He settled in London c. 1790 and remained there until his death. There he built up a highly successful practice as a painter of country houses, castles, cathedrals and other views, many of which were exhibited at the Royal Academy and the British Institution between 1790 and 1806. He was particularly successful in obtaining commissions from the nobility and other important patrons; these necessitated extensive travels throughout England and Wales, during which de Cort made large numbers of preparatory wash drawings (e.g. London, BM, and Oxford, Ashmolean). He invariably painted on mahogany panels, the smooth surface of which was ideally suited to his careful descriptive realism in the Netherlandish tradition; this was, however, often combined with idealized Italianate settings, although with little suggestion of atmosphere. Examples of de Cort’s painted views of country houses are Castle Howard and the Mausoleum (N. Yorks, Castle Howard), which was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1800, and Charlton Park (London, Ranger’s House). He painted views of the cathedrals of Canterbury, Ely, Exeter, Salisbury and Wells, and of Ripon Minster (York, C.A.G.).

• Cort, Hendrik (Josef) Frans de
  • Harlow, George Henry