Louis Van Houtte (Born 1810 – Died 1876) studied in France in a field that was related to economics and worked there for a while. He was born and raised in Ypres near leper. In 1830, during the Belgian Revolution, he fought the troops sent by the Netherlands Kings to defeat the mutineers in Brussels. During this time, he met Rogier Charles who soon became the secretary of state. Van Houtte worked with Rogier Charles for a short while and spent time at a botanical garden in Brussels whenever it was possible. After a while, it was said that the artist was unable to adapt to the administrative way of life because plants became his main interest. It is believed that Van Houtte had created a nursery in Brussels before 1834, and this was the very year that the artist left the country to collect rare plants for the Brussels’ Botanic Garden and for a rich amateur.
The Botanic Garden was a commercial company by then. Before this but not so long, he had created the first horticultural magazine in Belgium titled L’Horticulteur Belge. This took him five years from 1833 to 1838. The Brussels’ botanic garden starting facing financial difficulties in 1830 and by this time Van Houtte was in Brazil. This is why the board of this enterprise asked him to come back to help boost the commercial activities of the company. Once in Brussels, he tried his best for just 2 years and, in 1838, he decided to leave without a word. During that very short time he many regarded him as the director of the botanic garden.
