Pierre Joseph Célestin François (1759 - 1851)

• Was a history, genre and miniature painter and etcher from the Southern Netherlands.
• François was born in Namur in 1759.
• He grew up in Charleroi where he first studied drawing with Pierre Balthasar de Blocq.
• At age 11, François started his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts of Antwerp where his teachers included Andries Cornelis Lens, and Willem Jacob Herreyns, a late follower of Rubens.
• François remained at the academy for eight years.
• François traveled in 1778 in France and then to Italy where he resided in Rome until 1781.

• François then left for Germany and stayed in Vienna for six months, then returned to Antwerp. 

• Back in Rome in 1789 François remained in the city for three years.

• François finally returned and established himself in Brussels, where he became a professor at the Academy and the local Atheneum.

• On 25 February 1799, François married Marie-Françoise Leyniers.

• The couple had five children. 

• François' pupils were very numerous, including Navez, Decaisne, Madou, and others.

• He died in 1851 in Brussels.

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