Chalepas was born in Pyrgos, on the island of Tinos in 1851, from a family of marble hewers.

From 1869 to 1872, he studied at the School of Arts in Athens, under Neoclassical sculptor Leonidas Drossis.

His condition worsened and from July 11, 1888 to June 6, 1902, he was committed to the Mental Hospital of Corfu.

After his return, Chalepas lived under his mother's strict supervision, who blamed sculpture for her son's illness and prevented him from sculpting, destroying everything he created.

[2] His mother died in 1916 and Chalepas began to work again with insufficient means, after a long time of inactivity.