Author Bio
Ferdinand de Prins was born in the town of Brecht in 1859 and it appears showed a precocious talent for the arts. As a young man he was enrolled at the Academy of Antwerp, arguably the most traditional of the Belgian teaching academies. Whilst here he concentrated on landscape painting but also excelled in life drawing which probably led to his predilection for including figures within his ‘paysages’. Upon graduating he settled in the small town of Borgerhout, located just south of Antwerp, where he established a studio. It appears that he enjoyed immediate success and his landscape views of the Flanders area of Belgium became highly sought after. In the 1890’s he joined the influential art circle known as Eigen Vorming (Private Education) whose purpose was to promote the ideals of pure landscape painting. For the remainder of his days he continued to exhibit throughout Belgium but was to die at only forty-nine years of age in the town of Reet where he had moved for health reasons. The de Prins legacy was to continue with his son Willem (1895-1968) who was to become a renowned landscape painter in his own right.
Lit; Arto
P. Piron