A Life in Shadows and Light Born in Comines on 25 August 1825, Charles de Groux lived a life that moved between the borders of France and Belgium. Though he was a French national, his heart and his career belonged to Belgium, where his family settled in Brussels in 1833. He was one of ten children, born into a family led by a ribbon manufacturer. This early environment, far from the lofty halls of high society, likely shaped the way he looked at the world around him. His training began at the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, where he studied under François-Joseph Navez. In those…