Jan De Cooman has painted many portraits. The aristocracy of Geraardsbergen, the clerical and secular authorities, entrepreneurs and artists, all have posed for him as a way to save their picture for mankind. Few artists are fitted by nature to portray and few manage to paint a good portrait in a convincing way. Some assert themselves as talented landscapists, but are unable to depict a human figure. The face of every human individual is a mystery and at the same time a rich source of spirit and life. It is the task of the portrait-painter to discover the genius in the inner life of the figure and to reveal it in an undeniable way. Therefore, a portrait can never be a succesful photograph, neither a spiritless phantom, nor an evocation of mysterious lines and marks. It has to be a mirror of the soul and never some ingenious making. Jan De Cooman holds the characteristics of a talented portrait-painter in a refined way, because he simultaneously strives for physical resemblance and spiritual originality, and because he probes the inner life of his models with a sharp psychological feeling.
Valerius De Saedeleer (1941)
Cyriel Poep (1945)
Marie Flamée (1927)
Dom Benediktus, abt te Affligem (1937)