Life
Life
Frans Mortelmans was born in Antwerp as the first son of Karel Mortelmans and Isabella Poinjaert. His father was a printer and his mother ran a stationery shop. Frans would have five siblings: two brothers and three sisters. His oldest brother Lodewijk became a renowned composer. All the Mortelmans children attended the local music school and the Antwerp Academy of Fine Arts.
Works
Works
Frans Mortelmans was a very prolific painter. To date, more than 850 of his works have been inventoried. His most productive period is situated around 1900.
Frans Mortelmans commenced his career as a painter of portraits and figures, including genre scenes. From 1892 onwards, he almost exclusively painted very decorative and harmoniously composed still lifes and flower pieces.
Artist
Artist
Initially father Karel Mortelmans prefered his son Frans would study music and therefor bought him a piano. Buth it was his second son, Lodewijk, who occupied the piano and exchanged drawingschool for musicschool. That’s how Frans became the famous flower painter and Lodewijk the famous composer.
Frans Mortelmans was born on the 1st of may 1865, as the eldest son of 6