Florent Joseph Marie Willems

1823 – 1905

Belgian painter, active in France. He trained at the Academie in Mechelen. He first exhibited in Paris at the Salon of 1840, and in 1844 he settled there, working as both a restorer and a painter. He modelled his work on that of Dutch genre painters of the 17th and 18th centuries. Willems emulated their meticulous technique, as seen especially in his depiction of silks and brocades in The Bride's Toilette (Musée d'Art Moderne, Brussels). He also adopted their subject-matter: the majority of his works are genre scenes set in the 16th and 17th centuries, such as The Widow (1850; Musée d'Art Moderne, Brussels). Willems also painted scenes of contemporary life, for example A Party at the Duchess's House (Musée d'Art Moderne, Brussels), in which the furniture and clothing are portrayed with considerable realistic detail. In all Willems's work the anecdotal element was dominant, and his paintings thus appealed easily to a wide audience. Willems influenced the work of his pupil and compatriot Alfred Stevens. His son Charles-Henri Willems (active 1901-1913) was a portrait painter in Paris.

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