Florent Willems was a genre and portrait painter, born at Leige. He was a pupil at the Mechlin Academy and studied in particular the Old Dutch Masters.

Willems preferred to paint on panel, which enabled him to smoothly apply his fine glazing technique and also gave him greater control over the brush. His work attracted attention as early as 1840. The success of his work in Paris (from 1844) for which he was awarded numerous medals, Legion of Honour and accolades, induced him to settle there.

Works by Florent Willems are held by the museums of Amsterdam, Anvers, Brussels, Dublin, Vienna, Hamburg and Paris.