• Was a Flemish painter, draughtsman, copyist, art restorer, art dealer and copyist. • Van Falens was born in Antwerp as the son of Jan Baptist and Maria Anna de Kegel. • His father was a captain of the local civil militia. • In the guild year 1696-1697 he was registered in the Antwerp Guild of St. Luke as a pupil of Constantijn Francken. • Van Falens did not join the Antwerp guild but moved in 1703 to Paris. • In Paris, he initially worked as an art restorer. • Later he made a living by making copies of the work of Nicolaes van Berchem and Wouwerman. • On 16 July 1716 he got married with Maria Francisca Slodtz, the 18-year old daughter of the Antwerp sculptor Sebastiaen Slodtz. • The couple was allowed to live in the Louvre at the expense of the state. • They had 10 children. • During the Regency, the Duke d’Orléans commissioned van Falens to restore some of his paintings. • After the Duke's death he was named Peintre ordinaire du roi to king Louis XV in 1724. • He was accepted into the Académie royale in 1726.
• He left a number of works that were fully signed as C.van Falens or signed with his monogram CVF. • Next
