Basil de Loose was born into an artistic family in Zele.  His father, Jean-Joseph, was a painter and writer on art, and his brother Jean was a painter as well as an educator.

Basil studied with his father, with Mathieu Van Bree, and also at the Antwerp Academy.  He went to Paris in 1835 for a short time and then made his home in Brussels until his death in 1885.  He painted genre scenes that often included children.  His style followed the seventeenth century Dutch Masters.