Gerard de Nerval

Gérard de Nerval , 1808-55, French writer, an early romantic. His real name was Gérard Labrunie. His writings include translations of Faust (1828) and other German works; short stories, notably in Les Filles du feu (1854, partial tr. Daughters of Fire, 1922); travel sketches; and poems. Les Chimères (12 sonnets appended to Les Filles du feu ) and Aurélia, his fantastic spiritual autobiography, which mirrors a life that ended in madness and probable suicide, have had some influence on modern surrealists.

Bibliography: See his selected writings (tr. by G. Wagner, 1957); study by N. Rinsler (1973).

Seghers, Gerard (bapt. Antwerp, 17 Mar. 1591; d Antwerp, 18 Mar. 1651). Flemish painter of religious subjects, active mainly in Antwerp, where he is said to have been taught by Janssen. He probably spent most of the second decade of the 17th century in Italy (he evidently also visited Spain during this time) and he became one of the very few noteworthy Flemish Caravaggesque artists. By the late 1620s, however, he had fallen under the all-pervasive influence of Rubens (Assumption of the Virgin, 1629, Mus. de Peinture et de Sculpture, Grenoble). Seghers enjoyed a successful career supplying altarpieces for churches in Antwerp and other Flemish cities, and he was also an international art dealer.

Seghers, Gerard (1591–1651). Flemish painter of religious subjects, active mainly in his native Antwerp, where he is said to have been taught by Janssen. He probably spent most of the second decade of the 17th century in Italy (he evidently also visited Spain during this time) and he became one of the very few noteworthy Flemish Caravaggesque artists. By the late 1620s, however, he had fallen under the all-pervasive influence of Rubens (Assumption of the Virgin, 1629, Mus. de Peinture et de Sculpture, Grenoble). Seghers enjoyed a successful career supplying altarpieces for churches in Antwerp and other Flemish cities, and he was also an international art dealer.