At age 21 Joseph Paelinck left is native country, Flanders, and the farming life he was born into to pursue a painting career. He arrived in Paris in 1802, during the early years of Napoleon Bonaparte's reign, to study with the celebrated painter Jacques-Louis David. In 1804 Paelinck's painting *Judgment of Paris* won a prize at the Ghent Salon, and his talent came to the attention of notable patr
