

The basics
Quick facts
Intro
Belgian sculptor
A.K.A.
Joseph Germain Geefs, Josef Geefs, Jozef Geefs, Joseph-Germain Geefs
Gender:
Male
Places:
Work field:
Birth:
23 December 1808(Antwerp)
Death:
9 October 1885(Antwerp)
The details
Biography
Introduction
Joseph Germain or Jozef Geefs (23 December 1808 – 9 October 1885) was a Belgian sculptor. His brothers Guillaume Geefs and Jean Geefs were also sculptors.
Life
He was born in Antwerp, where he studied at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, going on to Paris's École des beaux-arts 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.
Geefs married a daughter of the architect Lodewijk Roelandt and probably produced the portrait medallion on his gravestone. Geefs was buried in Berchem. He died in Brussels, aged 76.
Honours
- 1881: Grand Officer in the Order of Leopold.
- Knight Commander of the Order of the White Falcon.
- Officer in the Order of the Oak Crown.
- Officer in the Order of the Zähringer Lion.
- Knight in the Order of the Immaculate Conception of Vila Viçosa.
- Handelsblad (Het) 15-05-1881
- Obbit. in Handelsblad (Het) 10-10-1885
- Obbit. in Handelsblad (Het) 10-10-1885
- Obbit. in Handelsblad (Het) 10-10-1885
- Obbit. in Handelsblad (Het) 10-10-1885
Selected works
Statue of Van Hogendorp by Josef Geefs (1867)
Belgium
Antwerp
- Indian rider attacked by two jaguars (1869) and Hunter with booty, in Antwerp Zoo
- Equestrian statue of Leopold I of Belgium (1872)
Brussels
- The Genius of Evil, Koninklijke Musea voor Schone Kunsten
Mechelen
- Stations of the cross (1867) and images (1867–1871) in Saints Peter and Paul Church
Netherlands
Heiligerlee
- Monument to Adolf van Nassau (1873), to a design by Johannes Hinderikus Egenberger
Rotterdam
- Gijsbert Karel van Hogendorp (1867), Coolsingel
Tilburg
- Portrait medallion of William II of the Netherlands on an obelisk (1874)
- "Parish website of Sts Peter and Paul" (in Dutch). Archived from the original on 19 July 2011.
- "Obelisk to King William II" (in Dutch).