Joseph Stallaert

[1] Joseph Jean François Stallaert was born on 19 March 1825 in Merchtem, a small town in the Flemish-speaking part of Brabant.

[3][4] They originally destined Joseph for a career in business and at the age of 15, he joined a trading firm, where he earned 100 francs a month.

[2] The person he was apprenticed to was the uncle of the landscape painter Edmond De Schampheleer, who discovered Stallaert's artistic ambitions.

[3] De Schampheleer arranged for him to take lessons in the studio of François-Joseph Navez, a Belgian Neoclassical painter who had studied under Louis David and was known for his portraits and genre scenes.

So he continued his itinerary, accompanied by Théodore-Joseph Canneel [nl], visiting Turin, Genoa, Pisa and Florence, before arriving in Rome on 22 May 1848.

Under the City Council rule that set the mandatory retirement age at 70, Stallaert left the school and received a pension in 1900.