Verhaghen, Pieter Jozef

Verhaghen, Pieter Jozef a Flemish painter, was born at Aerschot, South Brabant, about 1728. He studied with great diligence, and soon gained the patronage of prince Charles of Lorraine. He visited France, Sardinia, and Italy at the expense of the government; and while at Rome he painted two pictures which gained him considerable notoriety, one representing Christ Crowned with Thorns, and the other Christ with the Disciples at Emmaus. Through the fame of the latter he gained an audience with pope Clement XIV, who presented him with two gold medals. He afterwards visited Vienna, where he was patronized by the empress Maria Theresa, to whom he gave the picture of Christ at Emmaus. He returned to Louvain in 1773, where he was honored by the citizens with a public reception. He executed many works for the churches and convents of his country, and died in 1811. See Spooner, Biog. Hist. of the Fine Arts, s.v.