Pierre Joseph Célestin François

He was born in Namur in 1759 as the son of Charles Isidore François (1724-1788), manager of the tobacco factory of Viscount Desandrouin and Robertine Dumont (1734-1767). He grew up in Charleroi where he first studied drawing with Pierre Balthasar de Blocq. At age 11, he started his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts of Antwerp where his teachers included Andries Cornelis Lens, an Antwerp artist later working in Brussels in a Neoclassicist style, Willem Jacob Herreyns, a late follower of Rubens.[2][3] He remained at the Academy for eight years.

Themistocles Admetus

He traveled in 1778 in France and then to Italy where he resided in Rome until 1781. During this period he traveled in Italy. He then left for Germany and stayed in Vienna for six months. He then returned to Antwerp. Back in Rome in 1789 he remained in the city for three years. His patrons included the prince Lambertini. He finally returned and established himself in Brussels, where he became a professor at the Academy and the local Atheneum. He married on 25 February 1799, Marie-Françoise Leyniers, from the famous family of Brussels tapestry weaver. The couple had five children. He dedicated his time to teaching and decorative works with mythological subject matter. On some of these works he collaborated with his former teacher Andries Cornelis Lens who had moved to Brussels from Antwerp.[2]

His pupils were very numerous, including Navez, Decaisne, Madou, and others.[2] He also trained his son Ange François, who also worked in his workshop.[4] He died in 1851 in Brussels.[1]

Amongst his works are:

• Marius sitting on the Ruins of Carthage. (Brussels Gallery.)
• A Physician consulted by two old Women. (Haarlem Museum.)
• The Assumption. (Ghent Academy.)

• Media related to Pierre Joseph Célestin François at Wikimedia Commons