Felix Timmermans

Born July 5, 1886, in the city of Lier; died there Jan. 24, 1947. Belgian writer and artist who wrote in Flemish.

Timmermans studied in an art school in Lier. In 1925 he became a corresponding member of the Royal Flemish Academy. A pessimistic tone is reflected in his collection of novellas The Twilight of Death (1910); however, the novel Pallieter (1916) is filled with optimism. Timmermans was the author of the novellas The Very Beautiful Hours of Miss Symforosa (1918) and I Saw Cecilia Coming (1938), the novel Peasant Psalm (1935), the historical novels Anna-Marie (1921), The Harp of Saint Francis (1932), and The Hernat Family (1941), and the biographical novels Droll Peter (1928; Flemish title, Pieter Bruegel) and Adriaan Brouwer (1948).

The best known of Timmermans’ paintings and drawings are his illustrations for his own works, which show the influence of Bruegel the Elder and other old Flemish masters.