Biography and current catalogue for

Joseph-Marie-Thomas (Jef) Lambeaux (1852-1908) 

One of the leaders of the Realist school of Belgian sculptors of the 19th Century, Lambeaux was born in Antwerp in 1852. He studied at the Antwerp Academy of Fine Arts and became a pupil of Joseph Geefs (1808-1885). His first exhibited work was “War”, shown in Antwerp in 1871. This was followed by a long series of humorous groups, including “Children Dancing”, “Say Good Morning”, “The Lucky Number”, and “An Accident” (1875). He then went to Paris, where he executed “The Beggar and "The Blind Pauper” for the Belgian Salon and also produced "The Kiss", generally regarded as his masterpiece, which won him a gold medal on his debut at the Brussels Exposition in 1881,. After visiting Italy, where he was much impressed by the works of Giambologna (1529-1608), he became driven by the desire to express the effects of force and motion. Other notable works include his fountain in Antwerp (1886), "Robbing the Eagles’ Eyrie" (1890), "Drunkenness" (1893), "The Triumph of Woman”, “The Wounded Faun” (which created a great stir at the Exposition Universelle at Liege in 1905) and "The Human Passions", a colossal marble bas-relief, worked up from a sketch exhibited in 1889. His numerous portrait busts included those of Hendrik Conscience and Charles Buls, Mayor of Brussels. Lambeaux died on 6th June 1908, aged 55.