"Cornelis Huysmans was christened on 2nd April 1648 in Antwerp as the son of the architect Hendrik Huysmans and his wife Catharina van der Meyden. He probably studied under the Antwerp landscape painter Gaspar de Witte or his half-brother Peter. Following his training, Cornelis went to Brussels, where he probably worked in the workshop of Jacques d'Arthois and is still documented in 1681. The following year he married Maria Anna Scheppers in Mechelen. Possibly, difficulties with guild regulations were the reason for his move to Antwerp, where he was registered as a master in the Guild of Saint Luke in 1706/07. His son Pieter Balthasar Huysman was also trained as a painter, but died at the age of 24. In 1688 Cornelis was admitted by the painters' Guild of Mechelen as a freelance artist. In 1716 he returned to Mechelen and remained there until his death on 1st June 1727.
The younger brother and probably also pupil of Cornelis, Jan Baptiste Huysmans, was christened in Antwerp on 7th October 1654. 1674/75 he is listed as an apprentice and 1676/77 as a master of the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke. In the years 1694/95, 1697/98 and 1708/09 he reported pupils to the guild. He died on 14th July 1716 in Antwerp."
