Antiquarian; organized important early exhibion on the van Eyck. Casier was the son of Désiré Casier (1824-1815), joint owner of a textile company, Casier Frères, and Henriette Le Grand (1825-1899). He was raised in a conservative Roman Catholic home, tutored by his parents and parish priest. He attended the Ghent Sint Barbara College and then entered the Collège Notre-Dame de la Paix, Namur where he graduated in 1870. Casier was awarded a Doctor of Rights (law degree) at Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, in 1873. His interest, however, was never in law.

Art historian; archival researcher: Erik Duverger was the son of historian and art historian, Jozef Duverger, and a Hungarian mother, Terez Belazy. The young Duverger was raised in his birthplace. After graduation from high school at Ghent Sint-Pauluscollege, he studied art history and archaeology at Ghent University, where his father had been professor since 1949. In his father's footsteps, Erik specialized in the study of textile arts, particularly Flemish tapestry. Beginning in 1956, he contributed articles regularly in the periodical Artes Textiles.

Specialist and professor in early Flemish painting. After having attended high school (Koninklijk Atheneum) in Ghent, Hulin studied at the State University of Ghent, where he received his first doctorate from the Faculty of Arts in 1883, and his second one from the Faculty of Law in 1886. He continued his academic education abroad, in Berlin, Strasbourg, and Paris. During his stay in Paris, in 1888-1889, he studied at the Collège de France, the École des Hautes-Études and the École libre des Sciences Politiques.

Rubens and Jordaens scholar: professsor of art history at the University of Ghent, 1957-1985. d'Hulst worked as a curator at the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Brussels begiining in 1949.  He received a Ph.D. in art history from the University of Ghent in 1955, writing his dissertation on Jacob Jordaens's drawings, De tekeningen van Jakob Jordaens: bijdrage tot de geschiedenis van de XVIIe-eeuwse kunst in de Zuidelijke Nederlanden. He joined the University beginning in 1957, teaching art history.

Art historian and conservation scholar.  Marijnissen was born in Ghent but at an early age lost the sight in his right eye from a serious ulcer.  Despite this, Marijnissen studied art history and in 1948 wrote a dissertation on the Patronage of Philip II under Paul Coremans. However the technical aspects of art, rather than archival research, caught his attention.   Cormans teaching led Marijnissen to join the initiative to restore L'Agneau Mystique (The Lamb of God) and issue a publication on it.

Painter; early diarist and chronicler of Flemish artistic life. Vaernewyck was raised a Catholic and remained one his life. He was placed in charged of the guard investigating religious beliefs of expatriates and the Ghent citizenry alike. In 1560 he published Vlaemsche audvremdigheyt, a Flemish history written as poetry. He further held various government positions, including administrator of the charity house (1563), city councilman (1564), and controller for the grain exchange (depot) in 1566.