Léon Herbo

Léon Herbo (8 October 1850,

Templeuve - 19 June 1907, Ixelles) was a Belgian painter, best known for his portraits of women in casual poses and for his portraits of actors and actresses. He also painted genre scenes, many with Orientalist

themes. His wife often served as his model.

Biography

He studied at the

Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Brussels from 1869 to 1874. He was ranked first in the preparatory competition for the Prix de Rome

. He travelled throughout Germany, Italy and France before settling in Brussels.

His first formal exhibit came in 1875, at the Salon van Brussel [nl], and he would continue to hold showings there until the end of the century. The following year, he was one of the co-founders of "L'Essor", a progressive group that rebelled against the conservative teachings of the Academies.

As well as exhibiting in Belgium, he participated in showings in Paris, at the Salon, in Munich and Berlin. He obtained honorable mention at the Exposition Universelle (1889). That same year, he and the animal painter, Alexandre Clarys [nl], collaborated on creating a monumental canvas depicting the meeting of Queen Marie Henriette with the military squadron named after her.

He was very prolific and created numerous works for commercial use. Many were designed for reproduction by

Léopold Ferdinand, Count of Hainaut, who died in 1869, aged ten, a portrait he painted for Queen Marie-Henriette

. Herbo had an important production as a portrait painter. We owe him more than a thousand portraits.

Most of his paintings are in private collections. Some may be seen at the

Musée des Beaux-Arts Tournai

.