|
Florent Willems was a Belgian artist who painted beautiful, detailed historical genre scenes. He was born in Liège (1823). His father was Martin Adrien Willems, a teacher. The family moved to Mechelen. He studied at the Academy of Mechelen. He showed taken at an early age winning a drawing prize at age 13 years. The family did not have the money for a classic art education. He was placed with a Brussels art dealer named Héris. He worked as an art restorer. He also began painting copies of popular works. His own work began with a commissioned from Sir Hamilton Seymour to paint a portrait of his family (1841). Seymour was the British ambassador to Belgium. He began exhibiting at the Brussels Salon (1842). The first works were 'The Guardroom' and 'The Music Lesson' (1842). King Leopold purchased 'The Music Lesson' when Willem was only 19 yeas old, hardly an established artist. Willems proved to be a prolific artist. He exhibited regularly in Brussels and Paris. He was awarded a gold medal at the Paris Salon (1844). This seems to have educed him to move to Paris to take advantage of the larger art market. He became a French citizen. He was joined by a friend and artist, Alfred Stevens (1849). Stevens worked in Willems studio. Some art experts believe that Willems’ work influenced Stevens subject matters. He was honored to receive the Chevalier Cross in the Order of Leopold of Belgium (1850). This was followed by the Chevalier of the French Legion of Honour (1853). Emperor Napoleon III and Empress Eugénie purchased two of his work (1855). He was awarded the rank of officer in the Order of Leopold of Belgium (1855). He showed 13 works shown at the Universal Exhibition in Paris (1867), a good example of his prolific output. His work was distinguished for sumptuous interiors, carefully painted, furnishings. He is perhaps best known enchanting, even decadent women. He was strongly influenced by the Dutch and Flemish masters (17th century). It is from these works that he got his ideas about period fashions as he did not paint temporary scenes. Of course not painting contemporary scenes means that his work is not a completely valid representation of historic fashion. But they are so beautifully done that they still are of real merit. His beautifully rendered detailed works brought him a popular following. This attention to detail was quite extraordinary and won him a keen following. Willems died in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France (1905).
Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Site:
[Return to the Main Belgian country page ]
[Introduction]
[Activities]
[Artists]
[Biographies]
[Chronology]
[Clothing styles]
[Countries]
[Bibliographies]
[Contributions]
[FAQs]
[Glossaries]
[Images]
[Links]
[Registration]
[Tools]
[Boys' Clothing Home]
Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing artistic pages:
[Return to the Main Belgian art page]
[Return to the Main individual A-L artist alphabetical page]
[Return to the Main artistic page]
[Chronologies]
[Individuals]
[National]
[Styles]