Cats at Play
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Like many of his contemporaries, Van den Eycken specialized in painting domestic animals often in cute and playful situations.  Charles was born on April 17, 1859 into a family of artists – his grandfather, Frans Van den Eycken, and father, Charles Van den Eycken, were artists.  His grandfather was a painter of decorations and his father was a well-known landscape artist.  Charles’ early teachings came from his and he continued his studies at the Academy of Brussels under J. Stevens, the genre and animal artist.

Charles was a member of L’Essor – a group that was founded in 1876 when Realism became a unifying movement among many of the younger artists.  The group organized a number of exhibitions in Brussels and in Oostende, Antwerp and London; which help to spread their names throughout Europe.  Charles was also a regular exhibitor at the Brussels Salon and was awarded numerous medals.

Van den Eycken is considered to be one of the leading domestic animal artists of the 19th century and even during his lifetime they were highly sought after – receiving a commission from Queen Henrietta of Belgium.