CLAUS, EMILE (1849-1924), Belgian painter, was born at Vive Saint-tloi, Flanders, on Sept. 27, 1849. Receiving early training at the Antwerp Academy of Fine Arts, Claus began as a traditionalist. Soon, however, he came under the influence of certain French painters who had determined to break from the rut, and he completely changed his style, in spite of the fact that he had achieved a certain reputation and his work was remunerative. He started to paint in high lights by the juxta position of pure colours. He settled at Astene, in a house on the banks of the Lys, which he called Zonneschijn. There he began to paint that beautiful series of views of meadows, gardens, fields, streams and roads.
During the World War Claus resided in London, and from the windows of a house on the Victoria Embankment painted views of the Thames, showing the changing effects of the light and the weather. In 1917 he accompanied the Queen of the Belgians to La Panne, and visited the devastated regions. In 1920 he re turned to Astene and worked there until his death, on June 6 1924. He was the recipient of numerous Belgian and f oreign honours. He is represented in the Luxembourg, Paris, and in galleries in Venice, Brussels, Antwerp, Ghent and Liege.
C L A U S E L (more correctly CLAUZEL), BERTRAND, COUNT (1772-1842), marshal of France, was born at Mirepoix (Ariege) on Dec. 12, 1772, and served in the first campaign of the French Revolutionary Wars as one of the volunteers of 1791. In June 1795, having distinguished himself repeatedly in the war on the northern frontier (1792-93) and the fighting in the eastern Pyrenees , Clausel was made a general of brigade. In this rank he served in Italy in 1798 and 1799, in the expedition to S. Domingo in 1802, in Naples in 18o6. In 18o8—o9 he was with Marmont in Dalmatia, and at the close of 1809 he was appointed to a command in the army of Portugal under Massena.
Clausel took part in the Peninsular campaigns of 1810 and 181I, including the Torres Vedras campaign, and under Marmont he did excellent service in re-establishing the discipline, efficiency, and mobility of the army. In the Salamanca campaign (1812) the result of Clausel's work was shown in the marching powers of the French, and at the battle of Salamanca, Clausel, who had succeeded to the command on Marmont being wounded, and had himself received a severe wound, drew off his army with the greatest skill. Early in 1813 Clausel was made commander of the army of the north in Spain, but he was unable to avert the great disaster of Vittoria. Under the supreme command of Soult he served through the rest of the Peninsular War with unvarying distinction. During the Hundred Days he was in command of an army defending the Pyrenean frontier. After Waterloo he escaped to America, being condemned to death in absence. He took the first opportunity of returning to aid the Liberals in France (1820), sat in the chamber of deputies from 1827 to 183o, and after the revolution of 183o was at once given a military command. At the head of the army of Algiers, Clausel made a successful campaign, but he was soon recalled by the home government, which desired to avoid complications in Algeria. At the same time he was made a marshal of France (Feb. 1831). For some four years thereafter he urged his Algerian policy upon the chamber of deputies, and finally in 1835 was reappointed commander-in-chief. But after several victories, including the taking of Mascara in 1835, the marshal met with a severe repulse at Constantine in 1836. A change of government in France was primarily responsible for the failure, but public opinion attributed it to Clausel, who was re called in Feb. 183 7. He thereupon retired from active service and lived in complete retirement up to his death at Secourrieu (Garonne) on April 21, 1842.