View from the canal (Flanders) - Victor Gilsoul - Oil painting on paper, 19th-century period, depicting a view from the canal (Flanders). Inner frame dimensions: 49x83 cm. Outer frame dimensions: 80x114 cm. Signed lower right by Victor Gilsoul. The work shows signs of aging as shown in the attached photos. Victor Gilsoul was born in Brussels on October 9, 1867. Gilsoul's parents were Leopold Gilsoul and Thérèse Biers, who ran a pub on the outskirts of Brussels (Schaerbeek). The clientele of the pub mainly consisted of painters and unemployed artists. Gilsoul began drawing at the age of 12, and his work was enthusiastically received by the regulars of the pub. He won the first prize at the Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp at the age of 14. In 1883, at the age of 17, he held his first exhibition in a salon in Brussels. Many royals of his time showed great interest in Gilsoul's work. In 1897, at an international exhibition in Munich, the Prince of Bavaria purchased two of his paintings. King Leopold II of Belgium purchased his painting "Crepuscule" twice, in 1890, and in 1901, he bought thirteen paintings to decorate the royal yacht. In 1914, at the beginning of World War I, Victor fled to neutral Netherlands. Between 1910 and 1923, during the French period, Victor Gilsoul had a studio in Paris (Avenue Villiers XVII arrondissement). In 1924, Victor became a professor at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp. In 1933, Gilsoul began working in his final studio in Brussels (Woluwe-Saint-Lambert). Victor Gilsoul passed away on December 5, 1939, on the eve of World War II.