Early Life and Training in Ghent Jacques-François Delyen entered the world in Ghent on July 25, 1684. His early years in the County of Flanders provided the foundation for a life spent observing the faces and textures of others. The quiet beginnings of his life in Ghent eventually led him toward the formal study of painting, a path that would define his presence in the French art scene. Between 1710 and 1715, Jacques-François Delyen worked as an apprentice under Nicolas de Largillierre. This period of study was formative, as he spent those years absorbing the specific mannerisms and technic…