Jozef Van Lerius


Joseph Henri François Van Lerius was a Belgian painter in the Romantic-Historical style.
, 1857

Life

In 1838, he was already an apprentice draftsman at the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Brussels. From 1839 to 1844, he was a student of Gustave Wappers. He took a study trip through Germany and Italy in 1852. Two years later, he was appointed to a position as a painting instructor at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts. Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Aloïs Boudry, Gerard Portielje, and Piet Verhaert were among his students.
In 1861, he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Order of Leopold and in 1869 became a Knight in the Order of St.Michael.
In 1875, he was diagnosed with meningitis. The following year, he died in Mechelen, where he had gone for treatment.

Work

Van Lerius painted mythological and biblical scenes as well as portraits and genre pictures. Much of his work is didactic in nature.
In 1852 Queen Victoria bought his painting "Premier Né", depicting a young couple with a baby. It is still on display at Windsor Castle. Perhaps his best-known work is "Lady Godiva", which was shown at the Antwerp Triennial Salon in 1870. It was purchased by London art dealer Henry Graves. Other paintings found their way to San Francisco and St.Petersburg. For many years, he had an agent in New York. Many of his works have been widely reproduced.