Camille Debert

Military service in 1891 saw him posted to Nancy, a centre for the arts, and there in the army barracks he was commissioned to create a statue of Turenne.

With his cousin Constant Sonneville, an architect, he entered a competition to design a monument dedicated to the French soldiers killed at Antwerp in 1832, and they won it and were given the commission.

At the young age of 27, Debert was recognised by the Salon des Artistes Francais and executed a statue entitled "À la source".

In the early 20th century he was based in his studio at 4, rue Franquet, Paris, and from there, with a team of assistants, he worked in wood, marble, bronze and stone.

Debert is regarded above all as a religious sculptor and one of his most celebrated works is his relief carving of a Flemish peasant woman at prayer.