Jan Frans Verhas was a Belgian painter linked to the realist movement, whose artistic production included portraits, genre scenes starring children of the bourgeoisie, coastal landscapes, seascapes, still lifes and historical compositions. His style was consolidated as one of the most outstanding expressions of pictorial realism in Belgium. Initially trained by his father, Emmanuel Verhas, painter and director of the local Academy, he continued his artistic education at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, where he was a disciple of Nicaise de Keyser, a leading exponent of historical romanticism. There he befriended artists such as Lawrence Alma-Tadema, with whom he would maintain a close relationship throughout his life....