Early Life, Family and Training Antwerp, 1 August 1856. Frans Hens enters the world as the son of a butcher. His early years in Belgium are defined by this domestic reality before the pull of the Academy takes hold. By 1872, the focus shifts toward formal discipline. He begins his studies at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of Antwerp, entering a space of rigorous technical instruction. The classroom is dominated by the presence of Jac…