Jacques Charl Viljoen is a Cape Town-born realist painter and draftsman who works exclusively from life, primarily in oils. Best known for his breathtaking plein air landscape paintings of the Western Cape, Jacques also works across figurative and still life subjects. Rather than chasing stylistic cohesion, his focus is entirely on capturing form, atmosphere, and reality as it truly is, seeing what others might overlook and bypassing mechanical intermediaries entirely.

Art has been a lifelong pursuit for Jacques. Long before he could read or write, he spent his childhood sketching and constructing dinosaurs. Though he briefly pursued public relations in the UK and built a successful parallel path as a professional fencer and fencing coach, his deep-rooted passion for classical art ultimately drew him back.

After studying at Michaelis, where he felt disillusioned by an emphasis on concepts over craft, Jacques discovered a thriving global community of contemporary realists and enrolled at The Florence Academy of Art. Though his initial studies were interrupted by the COVID pandemic, Jacques returned to the Academy in 2025 to complete his education. Between his two chapters of study in Italy, he continued to hone his skills by painting captivating plein air works around the Cape. His dedication and time away have yielded extraordinary results: The Academy awarded him the prize for the ‘Best Painting for the Class of 2025/2026’, a remarkable endorsement from an institution that sees hundreds of international students pass through its halls.

Whether he is capturing the fleeting light of a Western Cape landscape or working on life-size figurative portraits, Jacques’s work is a true distillation of experience, patience, and unwavering craft. Explore our collection to discover his stunning plein air landscapes and available works created exclusively for Chandler House.