Ferdinand Willaert
Belgian, 1861-1939
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Born in 1861, the painter spent virtually all his life in Ghent, about 30 miles (50km) southwest of Antwerp, Belgium. And virtually all his art featured the local color of Ghent and areas nearby. As a result, he seldom had trouble selling his work. Ferdinand came from a whole family of Willaert artists (he was the oldest of thirteen children). His father was a painter of portraits and religious subjects. Two of his brothers, Arthur, and Raphael Robert were also taught to paint by their father. Arthur painted mostly beach scenes while his brother, Robert specialized in dogs. Apparently the art community in Ghent was fairly tight-knit in that Ferdinand Willaert's second wife, Valentine Fontan (a painter of still-lifes, flowers, interiors, por-traits, and scenes with figures) and her father, Joseph-Auguste Fontan, were also painters.