On 11 August 1881, Jean Baptiste Léopold Colin, son of Jean Baptiste Colin and Elisabeth Deklerck, was born in a Brussels working-class district as the fourth child in a family that was to number six children1. After the birth of Jean, the couple settled in Anderlecht, a formerly independent Brussels municipality where the family resided for more than twenty-two years. The only surviving members of the Colin family are the descendants of his sister Colette Henriette, because, like Jean himself, his other three sisters and brother remained childless. In 1909, Colette married the painter Camille Maximilien Laurent (1885-1967). They had two daughters: Elisabeth and Susanne. Elisabeth also remained childless; therefore, the only living descendants of the Colin family are Susanne’s children: Huguette and Nicole Lebrun2. Jean Colin grew up in a cultivated and art-loving environment. His parents ran an antique shop and auctioneering firm in the Nieuwstraat in Brussels (#049). He was brought up to appreciate arts and crafts. Jean’s sister Colette became a costume designer for theatre companies and such, and later married, as was mentioned earlier, the (lesser-known) painter Camille Laurent. Jean’s brother François became a frame-maker. Colette’s two daughters also had artistic ambitions: Elisabeth studied the piano and singing at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels; Susanne was a gifted pianist and also played the double bass. Copyright © Marc Pairon: Impressionism :Hidden Masterpieces of Jean Colin