English: Gustave Bettinger (1857-1934)

Born in the French city of Orleans, Gustave Bettinger made his artistic training at the Fine Arts School of Paris, where he studied in the class of Gustave Boulanger, Jules Lefebvre and Jean Vibert. He specialized in history and genre scene paintings. In his first works, his academic style gave him good success at the Salon.

He first exhibited at the 1880’s Salon of French Artists a painting bought by a Dutchwoman. On the next year, he married her and settled in The Hague. He worked in Scheveningen a few time where he especially painted coastal landscapes before returning to Paris. He settled in Montmorency in 1889. At the turn of the century, he executed charming interior scenes, showing mischievous and playful cats, in the manner of Henriette Ronner-Knip or Charles Van den Eycken.

After 1910, Bettinger became director of various societies that belonged to his family in law in Java. He settled inside a plantation of tea, near the little town of Sukabumi located at the West of the Island. His art works painted in Java were really liked by public, because they showed the daily life and serenity of a Post Orientalist painter. His precised and detailed paintings are a precious account of rural life during this pre-war time.