Jean Joseph WEERTS
 (Roubaix, 1846 – Paris, 1927)

 Reverie
 Oil on panel
 Signed and dated 1893 upper left
 33 x 23.5 cm

 Exposure :
 Mulhouse Salon of 1896, under number 337, entitled Rêverie

 Son of parents from Belgium, WEERTS was first a pupil of Constantin MILS in his hometown where he was quickly noticed for his talent. He then entered in 1867, thanks to an annual pension of 1200 francs granted by the city of Roubaix, sensitive to his abilities, the Ecole Impériale des Beaux-Arts in Paris, where he was a pupil of Alexandre CABANEL.
 He made his debut at the Paris Salon in 1867, was a member of the Society of French Artists in 1883, then of the National Society of Fine Arts in 1892. He was made a knight of the Legion of Honor in 1884, then an officer in 1897 and finally a commander in 1914.

 His career as official painter of the Third Republic was fruitful and crowned by French and foreign distinctions: hors concours at the Salon des Artistes Français, second class medal at the Paris Salon of 1875, medal at the London Salon in 1875, Grand Prix Wicar in Lille in 1877, silver medal at the Universal Exhibition of 1889, etc.
 WEERTS is above all a portrait painter with more than seven hundred works including many portraits notably of Doumer, Chaumie, Robert-Fleury, Liard, etc. But he also acquired a great reputation in monumental decoration. In 1887, he created the ceiling decoration of the council chamber at the Hôtel de Ville in Limoges, in 1882, that of the Monetary Museum of the Hôtel de la Monnaie in Paris, in 1894, the voussures of the Hôtel de Ville in Paris, in 1903, the Sorbon gallery at the Sorbonne where he painted La fête du Lendit, in 1911, the hemicycle of the Faculty of Medicine of Lyon.

 In Roubaix, he will be eternally grateful for the scholarship he received at the beginning of his career. The foundation in 1924 of the "Weerts" painting prize and the creation of his museum, which he inaugurated the year of his death in 1927, are a testimony to this recognition.
 Our Reverie allows us to rediscover this prolific artist, celebrated and honored in his time, who has since fallen into obscurity. This study, although dated 1893 under an overpaint, was exhibited at the Mulhouse Salon in 1896, as indicated by a label affixed to the back of the frame.

 WEERTS is buried in the Père-Lachaise cemetery (82nd division) and a street in Roubaix bears his name. A monument in his honor, executed by the sculptor Alexandre DESCATOIRE, is located in the BARBIEUX park in Roubaix.

 In 1989, the city of Roubaix paid tribute to him at the town hall.

 Museums : Bordeaux, Dijon, Dunkirk, Evreux, Lille, Lyon, Nancy, Paris (Louvre Museum), Roubaix, Tourcoing…