[1] Her father, Jan Baptist Simons (1717-1783), was a well-known Flemish artist.

She spent most of 1774 as a student at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp,[4] and produced works in a variety of media; including pastels, gouaches, portrait miniatures and prints.

[3] Eventually she specialized in engraving; inspired by the works of Nicolaes Berchem, Peter Paul Rubens and the Van de Velde family.

She also worked in Paris and Berlin, where she was presented with an appointment as court painter by King Frederick William III.

[5] In 1822, she exhibited three oil paintings at the Salon de Lille,[6] a division of the Musée d'Orsay.