Belmiro de Almeida

Belmiro Barbosa de Almeida (22 May 1858 –12 June 1935) was a Brazilian painter, illustrator, sculptor and caricaturist.

[1] In the late 1880s, he travelled to Rome and Paris, where he studied at the Académie Julian, worked in the studios of Jules Lefebvre[1] and participated in several Salons.

After that time, having become enamored of the French capitol, he alternated his residence between Paris and Rio de Janeiro.

[1] As a sculptor, he is best known for his figure of Manequinho (modeled after the Mannekin Pis in Brussels), which is on a public square in front of the Botafogo de Futebol e Regatas clubhouse and has become the club's mascot.

He settled in Paris permanently after World War I,[2] but continued to participate in the "Exposições Gerals de Belas Artes", winning the Grand Gold Medal in 1921.