Wiertz, Antoine-Joseph

(1806-1865)

   Antoine Wiertz was born in Dinant on 22 February 1806. A painter, architect, and writer, he studied in Antwerp, where he acquired a lifelong devotion to Pieter Paul Rubens (1577-1640). Wiertz's vast canvases depicting melodramatic, classical, or biblical themes reflected Rubens's influence. He won the Prix de Rome in 1832, and, in 1850, he proposed to the Belgian government that if the state would build him a studio large enough for him to carry out his projects, he would bequeath the studio and his artwork to the nation. The state agreed and Wiertz's studio in Ixelles is today the Musée Wiertz.

   Embittered by the rejection of a painting by the Paris salon of 1839, Wiertz began a campaign advocating the development of Brussels as a metropolis to rival the French capital. He called for creation of a city of stately buildings and wide boulevards, which he detailed in his tract "Bruxelles Capitale et Paris Province." Wiertz died in Ix-elles on 18 June 1865.