In "Ravishing of a Belgian woman", Wiertz breaks with convention by equipping his heroine with a pistol (although not with any clothes).

His museum now lies just 20 metres from the gleaming steel-and-glass towers of the European Parliament in Brussels (postal address: Rue Wiertz).

The curator, Brita Velghe, concedes that Wiertz is "no Rubens", but defends the museum as a rare example of a 19th-century studio, with a unique history.