Julien Dillens (8 June 1849 – 24 December 1904) was a

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

sculptor born in

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

, the son of the painter Hendrick Joseph Dillens.

Biography

Dillens studied under

Eugène Simonis Louis-Eugène Simonis (11 July 1810, in Liège – 11 July 1893, in Koekelberg) was a Belgian sculptor. Career Simonis studied under François-Joseph Dewandre at the Academie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Liège and at the age of nineteen went to I ...

at the

Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts The Royal Academy of Fine Arts of Brussels (french: Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts - École supérieure des Arts de la Ville de Bruxelles (ARBA-ESA), nl, Koninklijke Academie voor Schone Kunsten van Brussel), is an art school established in Br ...

. In 1877 he received the

Prix de Rome The Prix de Rome () or Grand Prix de Rome was a French scholarship for arts students, initially for painters and sculptors, that was established in 1663 during the reign of Louis XIV of France. Winners were awarded a bursary that allowed them t ...

for ''A Gaulish Chief taken Prisoner by the Romans''. At Brussels, in 1881, he executed the groups entitled ''Justice'' and ''Herkenbald, the Brussels Brutus''. For the pediment of the orphanage at Uccle, Figure Kneeling (Brussels Gallery), and the statue of the lawyer

Hippolyte Metdepenningen Hippolyte Désiré Metdepenningen (1799–1881) was a Belgian lawyer, president of the Ghent Bar Association and a politician. After Belgium became independent from the Netherlands in 1830 he became a municipal councilor on the Orangist list. ...

in front of the Palais de Justice at

Ghent Ghent ( nl, Gent ; french: Gand ; traditional English: Gaunt) is a city and a municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the East Flanders province, and the third largest in the country, exceeded in ...

, he was awarded the medal of honor in 1889 at the

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

Universal Exhibition, where, in 1900, his ''Two Statues of the Anspach Monument'' gained him a similar distinction. For the town of Brussels he executed ''The Four Continents'' (Maison du Renard, Grand, Place), The Lansquenets crowning the lucarnes of the Maison de Roi, and the Monument at

Everard 't Serclaes Everard t'Serclaes, Lord of Kruikenburg (c. 1320 – 31 March 1388) was a citizen of Brussels who was made famous by his recovery of the city from the Flemings. His brother, Jean, was bishop of Cambrai. After the death of John III of Brabant ...

under the arcades of the Maison de l'Etoile, and, for the Belgian government, Flemish Art, German Art, Classic Art and Art applied to Industry (all in the Centre for Fine Arts, Brussels), ''The Laurel'' at the

Botanical Garden of Brussels The Botanical Garden of Brussels (french: Jardin botanique de Bruxelles, nl, Kruidtuin van Brussel) is a former botanical garden in Brussels, Belgium. It was created in 1826 and stood on the Rue Royale/Koningsstraat in Saint-Josse-ten-Noode, ...

, and the statue of

Bernard van Orley Bernard van Orley (between 1487 and 1491 – 6 January 1541), also called Barend or Barent van Orley, Bernaert van Orley or Barend van Brussel, was a versatile Flemish artist and representative of Dutch and Flemish Renaissance painting, who w ...

(

Petit Sablon The () or (Dutch) is a neighbourhood and hill in the historic upper town of Brussels, Belgium. At its heart are twin squares: the larger or ("Large Sablon") square in the north-west and the smaller or ("Small Sablon") square and garden i ...

Square, Brussels). Additional works produced by Dillens include ''An Enigma'' (1876), the

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids such ...

busts of Rogier de la Pasture and P. P. Rubens (1879), ''Etruria'' (1880), ''The Painter Leon Frederic'' (1888), Madame Léon Herbo, Hermes, a scheme of decoration for the ogival façade of the hotel de ville at Ghent (1893), The Genius of the Funeral Monument of the Moselli Family, The Silence of Death (for the entrance of the cemetery of St Gilles), two

caryatid A caryatid ( or or ; grc, Καρυᾶτις, pl. ) is a sculpted female figure serving as an architectural support taking the place of a column or a pillar supporting an entablature on her head. The Greek term ''karyatides'' literally means "ma ...

s for the town hall of St Gilles, presentation

plaquette A plaquette (, ''small plaque'') is a small low relief sculpture in bronze or other materials. These were popular in the Italian Renaissance and later. They may be commemorative, but especially in the Renaissance and Mannerist periods were oft ...

to Dr Heger, medals of MM. Godefroid and Vanderkindere and of The Three Burgomasters of Brussels, and the ivories Allegretto, Minerva and the Jamaer Memorial. Dillens died in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

o 24 December 1904.

Selected works

File:Le laurier.JPG, ''Le Laurier'',

File:Dillens Bruxelles et Magistrature Communale2.JPG, ''Magistrature Communale'', Anspach Fountain, Brussels File:Dillens la Source.JPG, ''La Source'',

Saint-Josse-ten-Noode Saint-Josse-ten-Noode () or Sint-Joost-ten-Node (), often simply called Saint-Josse or Sint-Joost, is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the north-eastern part of the region, it is bordered by the Ci ...

, Square Armand Steurs File:Dillens Bruxelles et Magistrature Communale.JPG, ''Bruxelles'', Anspach Fountain File:The Porters by Julien Dillens (1849-1904), created for the 1897 Colonial Exhibition ant Tervuren - Royal Museum for Central Africa - DSC06727.JPG, ''The Porters'',

Royal Museum for Central Africa The Royal Museum for Central Africa or RMCA ( nl, Koninklijk Museum voor Midden-Afrika or KMMA; french: Musée royal de l'Afrique centrale or MRAC; german: Königliches Museum für Zentralafrika or KMZA), also officially known as the AfricaMuse ...

File:Kerkhof Sint-Gillis 07.jpg, ''The Silence of the Tomb'', Cemetery of Saint-Gilles

References

* * Edmond Marchal, "Notice sur Julien Henri Dillens", Annuaire de l'Académie royale de Belgique, t. 78, 1912, pp. 177–205
Consulter la notice
* Georges-Marie Matthys, "Julien Henri Dillens", Biographie nationale, t. XLIII, col. 334
Consulter la notice
* Georges-Marie Matthys, ''Julien Dillens, sculpteur'', Mémoires de la Classe des Beaux-Arts, Coll. in-8°, Série 2, t. VIII, Académie royale des sciences, des lettres et des beaux-arts de Belgique, 1955, 164 p.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dillens, Julien Belgian sculptors Belgian architectural sculptors 1849 births 1904 deaths Prix de Rome (Belgium) winners