He studied under the guidance of his learned maternal uncle A. Morillon. Already in 1586 he was traveling to Paris; in 1579 he was in Rome, where he was kindly received for his talent by Cesare Baronio, Alfonso Ciacconio, Giovanni Macario (Jean l'Heureux), and others. His notebook, once belonging to the Library of the Bollandists, was sold in Antwerp in 1825; it then passed into the Royal Library of Brussels (nos. 17872-73). From it, it emerges that W. collected inscriptions in the churches of Rome relating to dedications, translations of relics, altars, and ciboria; many of these are now lost and known only through W.'s transcriptions.
In 1590, he entered the cemeteries of Priscilla and the Giordani, where he inscribed his name on the walls; he also visited the cemeteries of Domitilla and the catacombs, of which he surveyed the plan. In addition to Rome, he transcribed Latin and Greek inscriptions—pagan, early Christian, and medieval—also in Paris, Gubbio, Ostia, Naples, and Tivoli. He had a keen and sure vision, was a critical observer, an exact topographer, possessed artistic and scientific insight, and was a skilled draughtsman and most faithful copyist. In this regard, the overly summary judgment formulated by H. Leclercq must be corrected
(Manuel d'archéologie chrétienne, I, Paris 1907, p. 3), since whenever a copy by W. has been compared with the original, its accuracy has been confirmed.
W.'s copies from the cemetery of the Giordani are particularly valuable, as Wilpert demonstrated as early as 1891 and was later confirmed by the rediscovery of the cemetery in 1921. For the inscriptions, see A. Silvagni, Inscr. Christ. Urbis Romae, nova series, I, Rome 1922, pp. 45-46.