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 h…