This is a copy of the famous bust commissioned by the first King of the Belgians, Leopold I, in 1836 at the Ghent Salon. Of exemplary finishing quality, this bust stands out for the voluptuousness of the subject’s hairstyle, the folds and details of his clothes faithfully transcribed in marble, and the delicacy of the face.

His madonnas made him a master of the Italian Renaissance revered by the greatest painters, from Jacques-Louis David to Pablo Picasso, including Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres and Eugène Delacroix. The divine Raphael (1483–1520), with his soft and sweet brush, is the author of famous frescoes for the Vatican. More than a painter, Raphael is a true myth in the history of art: a prodigious talent, lover of Fornarina, passionate about antiquity, he was able to combine the grandeur of a Michelangelo with the gentle modeling of a Leonardo da Vinci. He embodies the spirit of the Renaissance.

Charles Geerts (Antwerp, 1807 – 1855, Leuven)

Trained at the Antwerp Academy (1824 – 33), with sculptor Jean-Baptiste Van Hool (1769 – 1837) and Dutch sculptor Jan Antoon Van der Ven (1799 – 1866). In 1834, he was appointed sculpture professor at the Leuven Academy, where he taught until his death.

He debuted in 1834 at the Antwerp Salon with a bust and a statue: « The Dawn ».

He received the commission for nine busts of composers and playwrights for the rotunda of the Royal Theatre of Antwerp. He sculpted the bust of Raphael, which was purchased at the Ghent Salon by Leopold I (1836).

Official commissions: marble bust of a Madonna (today on Zaïre Street); a Saint Maurice, for the Berverloo camp (1842); a Scene of the Flood (1839), today at the University Library of Leuven.

For the Palais des Nations, he executed the monument to John the Conqueror, Duke of Brabant and Limburg; six statues for the facade of the Leuven Town Hall (1849-52), and for the facade of the Bruges Town Hall (1855 – and which were removed in 1959)