Léon Mignon (

Liège Liège ( ; ; ; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality of Wallonia, and the capital of the Liège Province, province of Liège, Belgium. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east o ...

, 9 April 1847 –

Schaerbeek (French language, French, ; former History of Dutch orthography, Dutch spelling) or (modern Dutch language, Dutch, ) is one of the List of municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, 19 municipalities of the Brussels, Brussels-Capital Reg ...

, 30 September 1898) was a Belgian sculptor working in a realist idiom, known for his depiction of

bull A bull is an intact (i.e., not Castration, castrated) adult male of the species ''Bos taurus'' (cattle). More muscular and aggressive than the females of the same species (i.e. cows proper), bulls have long been an important symbol cattle in r ...

s. Born at Liège, Léon Mignon completed his studies at the Académie royale des Beaux-Arts de Liège in 1871. He made his first showing at the Salon of Ghent, and obtained a fellowship from the Fondation Darchis for further study in Italy. He set up his studio in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

in 1876 in collaboration with Paul de Vigne, then settled permanently at

. He won a gold medal at the

Paris Salon The Salon (), or rarely Paris Salon (French: ''Salon de Paris'' ), beginning in 1667 was the official art exhibition of the in Paris. Between 1748 and 1890 it was arguably the greatest annual or biennial art event in the Western world. At the ...

for his sculpture ''Li Tore'', the Bull-Tamer (''illustration'') which provoked polemics from critics for its combination of nudity with forthright realism. ''Li Tore'', set up at Liège, became the mascot of the students, who hid it in the cellars of the Académie to protect it during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. The bull has become an

emblem An emblem is an abstract art, abstract or representational pictorial image that represents a concept, like a moral truth, or an allegory, or a person, like a monarch or saint. Emblems vs. symbols Although the words ''emblem'' and ''symbol'' ...

for all Liège, with the city motto ''"Liège, forcer l’avenir!"'', "Liège, make the future happen!" A bronze on a similar theme, his ''Le Dompteur de Taureaux'' (1881), which had been noticed at the retrospective exhibition of Belgian sculpture the previous year (in its plaster model), and was championed by Gustave Rolin-Jaequemyns, Minister of the Interior, stands on the Terrasses d'Avroy, Liège. Though a scarf had been added to the model to disguise the figure's nudity, the sculpture scandalised the editors of the Catholic daily, ''La Gazette de Liège.''Vers la modernité. Le XIXe siècle au Pays de Liège
One among his ''

animalier An animalier (, ) is an artist, mainly from the 19th century, who specializes in, or is known for, skill in the realistic portrayal of animals. "Animal painter" is the more general term for earlier artists. Although the work may be in any genre ...

'' sculptures is to be seen at the Botanical Garden of Brussels: ''The Olive Tree, or Peace'', representing an agricultural worker with his ox. His early ''Combat de taureaux dans la campagne romaine'' is conserved in the Musée Royal des Beaux-Arts, Brussels. Other sculptures include ''Hide-and-Seek'' and ''Lady Godiva''. Both Schaerbeek and Liège possess a rue Léon Mignon.

Notes

1847 births 1898 deaths Belgian animal artists Animal sculptors Artists from Liège 19th-century Belgian sculptors 19th-century Belgian male artists {{Belgium-sculptor-stub