Jean De Bast

Jean De Bast (Brussels, 1883-1975) is a Belgian postage stamps draughtsman and engraver.

After a very complete artistic training (drawing, painting, engraving ...), he joined in 1907 the National Postage Stamps Printing-house in Mechelen. Going up step by step in the hierarchy, he finished there his career in 1945, as a senior foreman.

His first works in philately are, in 1919, the drawing of the famous series “Helmeted King” and, in 1922, the engraving of King Albert I’s effigy (“Houyoux” type).

In 1926, the Belgian sovereigns realized the artist’s value, following the issue of a stamp for the benefit of the fight against tuberculosis. In accordance with the wish of the King, a competition was organized between four Prix de Rome and De Bast, who was the winner. From that time onwards, the direction of the Postal Services stopped to appeal to foreign artists, and De Bast became its appointed engraver.

While keeping his office at the Postage Stamps Printing-house, De Bast worked then as a free engraver, realizing works of very high quality.

In 1952, he had a disagreement with the direction of the Postal Services, which had retouched without his agreement the original matrix of a stamp bearing the effigy of King Baudouin. The stamp so issued was so mediocre that it received a bad appreciation from the press and was rapidly withdrawn from sale.

Being in bad terms with the Postal Service, De Bast waited for several years before being entrusted again with stamp engraving. He put an end to his engraver’s career in 1967, at the age of 84. It should be noted that, in 1964 and 1965, two of his stamps received a golden medal in Paris: “Infant Christ with John the Baptist and two angels” (after Peter Paul Rubens) and “The daughters of the painter Cornelis De Vos”.

On the whole, between 1926 and 1967, he engraved more than one hundred postage stamps, ten or a dozen stamps for the Railways, and 5 fiscal stamps for the Ministry of Finance.

This master engraver, who, by his exceptional expertise, raised his work to the level of Art, obtained numerous distinctions both for his work and his behaviour as a patriot during the war. Ten years after his death, on the occasion of the “Journée du timbre” (Stamp’s day), the Postal Service paid homage to him by issuing a stamp showing him at work.

Works

All those stamps have been printed by intaglio (also called copperplate printing). Sine 1959, some of them have been printed by combination of intaglio and rotogravure (also called heliography, screen printing or photogravure).

Belgian postage stamps

* « Antituberculeux » (fight against tuberculosis), December 6, 1926: lion and Cross of Lorraine printed in typography. King Albert I and Queen Elisabeth, each one in a medallion
* « The sites », December 2, 1929 : waterfall of Coo, Bayard rock in Dinant, Menin Gate in Ypres, Orleans’s walk in Spa, Antwerp’s port, Green wharf in Bruges
* « Philatelic exhibition inAntwerp », August 9, 1930 : the coat of arms of the city
* « Centenary of the National Independence, July 1, 1930 : Kings Leopold I, Leopold II and Albert I, after paintings by Lieven De Winne and Jef Leempoels
* « The castles », December 1, 1930 : castles of Beloeil, Ooidonk, Ghent, Bouillon and Gaasbeek
* « King Albert I wearing a kepi », June 15, 1931
* « Nurse wearing a head-band », December 1, 1931 : effigy of Queen Elisabeth
* « Infantry », August 4, 1932 : stamp issued for the erection in Brussels of a monument in praise of infantry ; after a drawing by the painter Armand Massonet
* « Piccard balloon », November 26, 1932 : the stratospheric balloon with which the scientist Auguste Piccard reached a record altitude of 15.785 m (51,775 ft) in 1931
* « Knight », December 1, 1934 : crusade against tuberculosis ; after a drawing by James Thiriar
* « SITEB », May 25, 1935 : Franz von Taxis, first chief postmaster ; after a painting by Hans Holbein the Younger
* « City hall of Charleroi », October 18, 1936 ; after a drawing by Marcel Rau
* « Basilica of Koekelberg », June 1, 1938 : the quire of the church
* « The belfries », December 1, 1939 : bell towers of Veurne, Namur, Aalst, Tournai
* « Portraits of the Senate »: full-length pictures of personages, decorating the hemicycle of the Senate; most of those paintings made by Louis Gallait. The series was issued in four times :
** August 15, 1946 : Pippin of Herstal, Charlemagne, Godfrey of Bouillon, Robert of Jerusalem, Baldwin I of Constantinople
** September 25, 1947 : John II, Duke of Brabant, Philip of Alsace, William the Good, Notker of Liège, Philip the Noble
** December 15, 1948 : Isabella of Austria, Albert of Austria
** December 20, 1949 : Philip the Good, Charles Quint, Maria-Christina, Charles of Lorraine, Maria Theresa of Austria
* « Centenary of the first Belgian postage stamp » : July 1, 1949 : postilion, train and aircraft ; after a drawing by Jacques Bruynseraede
* « Belgian-British Union », March 15, 1950 : coat of arms of the United Kingdom and Belgium, tank, memorial in Hertain (Tournai) ; after drawings by Marc Séverin
* « Basilica of Koekelberg », March 1, 1952 : consecration of the basilica by Cardinal Van Roey ; after a drawing by Marc Séverin
* « King Baudouin », May 14, 1952 : first stamp, large size, bearing the effigy of the new King ; after a photography by Robert Marchand
* « 13th congress of the U.P.U. », May 14, 1952: congress of the Universal Postal Union, in Brussels. The 12 stamps show the chief postmasters of the Thurn und Taxis family and the castle of Beaulieu ; after drawings by William Goffin
* « King Baudouin », December 10, 1952 : new effigy, stamps in standard size
* « Edouard Anseele », October 27, 1956 : centenary of the birth of this Minister of State
* « Journée du timbre (The day of the stamp) », March 15, 1959 : oath of Johann Baptista von Taxis in front of Charles Quint ; after a wall painting by Jean-Emmanuel Van den Bussche
* « Cultural issue », July 4, 1959. Fourth centenary of the establishment of a first Royal Library in Brussels by Philip II of Spain : Charles the Rash, great coat of arms of Philip the Good
* « Pope Adrian VI », August 31, 1959 : 5th centenary of the birth of this Pope ; after a painting by J. Van Scorel
* « Legends and Folklore », December 5, 1959 : the Blancs-Moussis of Stavelot, the Madonna of Peace ; after drawings by Jean Van Noten
* « Journée du timbre (The day of the stamp) », March 20, 1960 : Alexandrine of Rye, countess of Taxis ; after a piece of tapestry
* « The World Year of the Refugee », April 7, 1960 : 3 stamps, showing a child, a man, a woman ; after drawings by Jean Van Noten
* « Frère-Orban », October 15, 1960 : centenary of the Crédit Communal de Belgique, established by the minister of Finance Walthère Frère-Orban : after a medal
* « Art crafts », December 5, 1960 : lace
* « Nicolaus Rockox », March 20, 1961 : 400th anniversary of the birth of this burgomaster of Antwerp ; after a drawing by Anthony van Dyck, adapted by Victor Dolphijn
* « Belgian important people », April 22, 1961 : Henri Vieuxtemps and W. De Mol ; after a drawing by Peter Colfs
* « Architecture masterpieces », March 12, 1962 : the Castle of the Counts in Male, the basilica Our Lady in Tongeren ; after drawings by Marc Séverin
* « Journée du timbre (The day of the stamp) », March 25, 1962 : horse postilion of 16th century ; after a drawing by James Thiriar
* « Gerardus Mercator », April 14, 1962 : 450th anniversary of the birth of this geographer and cartographer ; after an engraving by Frans Hogenberg
* « Concentration camps », September 16, 1962 : Allegory ; after a drawing by Idel Ianchelevici
* « Queens of Belgium », December 8, 1962 : Queen Fabiola
* « Journée du timbre (The day of the stamp) », April 7, 1963 : mail-coach of 1505 ; after a drawing by Eugène Verboekhoven
* « Centenary of the first International Postage Conference », May 7, 1963 : frontage of the General Post Office in Paris
* « Ruben’s works », December 7, 1963 : Nicholas, painter’s son ; Infant Christ with John the Baptist and two angels
* « Famous Belgian important people », March 2, 1964 : Andreas Vesalius, anatomist of 16th century
* « Journée du timbre (The day of the stamp) », April 5, 1964 : postilion of Liège country, about 1835 ; after a drawing by James Thiriar
* « Roger van der Weyden », September 19, 1964 : Deposition
* « Famous works of Belgian painters », December 5, 1964 : Charles I’s child, painting by Anthony van Dyck ; painter Cornelis De Vos’s daughters, by himself
* « Philately of the Youth », March 27, 1965 : Sir Rowland Hill (postal reformer), who originated the basic concepts of the modern postal service
* « Journée du timbre (The day of the stamp) », April 25, 1965 : horse postmaster of 19th century ; after a drawing by James Thiriar
* « Centenary of King’s Leopold I death », November 13, 1965 : effigy after stamps of 1865
* « Journée du timbre (The day of the stamp) », April 17, 1966 : country postman of 1852 ; after an aquarelle by James Thiriar
* « Professor August Kekulé », July 9, 1966 : portrait of that chemist who discovered the ring shape of the benzene molecule
* « Cultural issue », August 27, 1966 : sight and seal of the town Huy ; after a composing by Jean Malvaux
* « Children games », December 3, 1966 : children forming a caterpillar ; after a drawing by Francine Somers
* « Journée du timbre (The day of the stamp) », April 16, 1967 : horse postilion of 1833 ; after a drawing by Oscar Bonnevalle

Other engraving works relating to Belgian postage stamps:
* Overprint assigned to be put on the stamps of the first series « Orval », with regard to the laying of the foundation stone of the abbey by Prince Leopold. This overprint shows the monogram L topped by a crown, and bears the date 19-8-29 (August 19, 1929).
* The ornaments figuring on the sheet Koekelberg. The stamp showing the basilica’s quire was issued on June 1, 1938. On July 21, this stamp was republished, in a different colour, on the middle of a sheet bearing :
** above, an escutcheon sustained by two angels and showing the basilica’s front view
** below, the words VT PATRIA VOTVM PERSOLVAT

Airmail stamps

* « Aircraft Fokker VII flying over varied towns », April 30, 1930 : rotogravure ; after a drawing by P. Goblet
* « DC 4 Skymaster », February 23, 1946 : aircraft linking Brussels and Léopoldville ; after a drawing by Marcel Cros
* « Bastogne », June 15, 1946 : with extra postage for the benefit of the setting up of a memorial to pay homage to American combatants of Bastogne ; after a drawing by S. André

tamps for Railways and postal packets

* « Arms of the Kingdom », 1923
* « General Post Office in Brussels », February 25, 1929
* « Centenary of Belgian Railways », June, 1935 : diesel motor-coach, steam-engine
* « International Railway Congress, in Brussels », July 6, 1939 : allegory ; after a medal by Godefroid De Vreese
* « Handicrafts », November 11, 1942 : digger, engine-driver, fireman
* « Signal », August 1, 1942 : electric train and signaling
* « Level crossing », June 2, 1946

tamps for the Belgian Congo

* « Airplane flying over a landscape », January 22, 1934 : airmail stamps

Projects of stamps not carried or unpublished

* « Albert I » (1928) : this engraving is De Bast’s participation to the competition he won against four engravers, Prix de Rome
* « Albert I » (1934) : project carried but not issued, due to the accidental death of the King ; engraving assigned to a typographic printing
* « Protection of black children » (1936) : stamp for the Belgian Congo, showing Queen Astrid surrounded with Congolese children ; project refused by the Postal Services, who issued 3 stamps very similar, in rotogravure
* « Prince Charles » (1947) : portrait of the Regent, who finally refused the issue of stamps bearing his effigy
* « King Baudouin wearing glasses » (1953) : project to replace the stamp badly retouched by the Postage Stamps Printing-house

Gallery

External links

* [http://membres.lycos.fr/philatebast/ Pictures of all the stamps engraved by De Bast] (in French)
* [http://membres.lycos.fr/graveurdebast/ Pictures of proofs and tests made by De Bast during the engraving] (in French)

Bibliography

* [http://www.filahome-stamps.com/stamps/0601-jean-de-bast.htm/ Book] : Dr Jacques Stes, « Maître Graveur Jean De Bast, sa vie, son œuvre – Meester Graveur Jean De Bast, zijn leven, zijn werk », Collector Club 2005
* Dr Jacques Stes, « Catalogue raisonné des essais des timbres de Belgique de 1910 à nos jours », Les Editions Williame 2001