Joseph Geefs

Joseph Germain Geefs or Jozef Germain Geefs (23 December 1808 – 9 October 1885) was a Belgian sculptor.

[1] Joseph Geefs was born in Antwerp, where he studied at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, going on to École des Beaux-Arts de Paris and winning the Prix de Rome in 1836.

In 1841, he became a lecturer in sculpture and anatomy at the Academy in Antwerp (his pupils included Bart van Hove and Jef Lambeaux), rising to be its director in 1876.

He was made an officer of the Order of Leopold in 1859 by King Leopold I. Geefs married a daughter of the architect Lodewijk Roelandt and probably produced the portrait medallion on his gravestone.

[2] Geefs died in Antwerp,[3] aged 76, and was buried in Berchem.