The elegant bronze sculpture by the artist Albert Desenfans depicts a woman in a sustained posture, her right hand slightly raised. It perfectly symbolizes the art of persuasion, a talent admired since antiquity.

• Armour- breastplate
• Hair pin
• Bunched up fabric of dress in left hand

Iconography of rhetoric 

To convince, to please, it is a lot; we do not have there yet all the eloquence. Neither dialectic, nor pleasure are enough; passion is needed. The orator will thus have groans and tears, transports of admiration as well as bursts of anger: he will have to move. To persuade, to please, to touch, it is in this triple condition only that one is eloquent. 

Eloquent! one is not yet eloquent; without the beauty of the expression, without the vivacity and the light of the figures, without the number and the harmony of the sentence, without the elocution, in a word, there is no eloquence. – Cicero

Albert Desenfans (Genappe, 1845 – 1938, Braine-l’Alleud)

The Belgian sculptor Albert Desenfans (Genappe 1845 – Eigenbrakel 1938) studied at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Brussels with Louis Jéhotte, Eugène Simonis and Egide Melot. 

Desenfans was an independent sculptor who regularly showed his work at countless Belgian and international salons. He is known for mostly religious, allegorical and mythological works. He produced large sculptures on commission for public buildings such as the City Hall, the King’s House, the Palace of Justice in Brussels or even the House of the Province of Liège.

Together with Thomas Vinçotte and Jef Lambeaux, he created sculptures that adorn the Arcades of the Cinquantenaire in the park in Brussels.

In addition to the numerous works in public space, he created many small statuettes, which can still be found in the art market.

An avenue in Schaerbeek, where he lived, bears his name.