En 1931, date de parution de sa monographie du peintre romantique belge Antoine Wiertz, le critique et poète Fritz-René Vanderpyl (1876-1965) publia également aux Editions Stock ses Peintres de mon époque.

"Taken alone and exhibited anonymously in a gallery, most of those huge works recall a forgotten virtuoso ; would proclaim a disowned painter punished for his independance. It would be true, and one could even add, without any risk of deprecating historical attitude, that among painters and sculptors, this artist was one of the last who practised this strange virtue of which we will soon hear discussed as if it were a myth "the self-sacrifice"." (Vanderpyl)