Gheorghe Leonida (1892/93–1942) was a Romanian sculptor known for creating the head of '' Christ the Redeemer'', the statue of

Jesus Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

Biography

Gheorghe Leonida was born in

Galați Galați (, , ; also known by other alternative names) is the capital city of Galați County in the historical region of Western Moldavia, in eastern Romania. Galați is a port town on the Danube River. It has been the only port for the most par ...

, in 1892 (1893 according to other sources). Coming from an influential middle-class family, he was the penultimate among 11 children. Among his siblings was the pioneering female engineer

Elisa Leonida Zamfirescu Elisa Leonida Zamfirescu (10 November 1887 – 25 November 1973) was a Romanian engineer who was one of the first women to obtain a degree in engineering.Michallon, Clémence (10 November 2018Elisa Leonida Zamfirescu: 5 things you need to know a ...

and also the engineer

Dimitrie Leonida Dimitrie Leonida (May 23, 1883–March 14, 1965) was a Romanian energy engineer. Born in Fălticeni, his father Atanase was a cavalry officer, while his mother (née Gill) was the daughter of a French building engineer. He had seven surviving ...

. When his father, a career officer, was forced to leave Galați, Gheorghe graduated from high school in Bucharest, where he then continued his studies at the department of sculpture of the Conservatory of Fine Arts. He made his debut in 1915, at a national salon. After fighting in World War I, Leonida continued art studies in Italy for three years, and his work received prizes in Rome (for the work ''Reveil'') and Paris (''Le Diable''). In 1925, he moved to Paris, where

Paul Landowski Paul Maximilien Landowski (1 June 1875 – 31 March 1961) was a French monument sculptor of Polish descent. His best-known work is '' Christ the Redeemer'' in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Biography Landowski was born in Paris, France, of a Polish re ...

had just received the commission to collaborate with Heitor da Silva Costa in the conclusion of the architectural monum ''Christ the Redeemer''. Leonida was hired by Landowski to sculpt the statue's head. The work began in 1926, and was completed in 1931. After his return to Romania, Leonida continued sculpting. His works can be seen at

Bran Castle Bran Castle ( ro, Castelul Bran; german: Schloss Bran; hu, Törcsvári kastély) is a castle in Bran, southwest of Brașov. It is a national monument and landmark in Transylvania. The fortress is on the Transylvanian side of the historical b ...

, the National Museum of Art and other major museums in Bucharest. He died in the spring of 1942, falling off the roof of his family home in Bucharest, while picking linden flowers.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leonida, Gheorghe Romanian sculptors 1893 births 1942 deaths Christ the Redeemer (statue) People from Galați 20th-century sculptors Accidental deaths from falls