Nineteenth-century Flemish portraiture stands at the intersection of Flanders' pictorial tradition and the social transformation brought about by industrialization and the rise of the bourgeoisie. Nineteenth-century painters inherited the characteristics of great Flemish painters Jan van Eyck, Rubens, and Van Dyck.

Their technique stood out for the care taken in reproducing details of faces, fabrics, objects, and jewelry that represented the social class and economic position of the subjects. 

Artists played with light to convey warmth and highlight the brilliance of the different textures in the portrait.

Bourgeois portraits became symbols of economic success and social position, emphasizing belonging to a particular family in society.