BK-18796

About this artwork

Gift of E. Lacomblé

Art Historical Context

This small clay sculpture, cataloged as BK-18796, was created by Belgian artist Eugène Lacomblé (c. 1828–c. 1905). Standing just 27 cm tall, the piece demonstrates the intimate scale often chosen for clay works, where the material’s pliability allows artists to capture subtle textures and forms through direct hand modeling. As a gift from Lacomblé himself, the sculpture carries added historical value, reflecting the 19th-century tradition of artists donating works to public collections to ensure their legacy. Clay served as both a practical medium for study models and a finished art form duri...

About the Artist

Eugène Lacomblé · 1828–1905

Eugène Lacomblé (1828–1905) was a versatile Belgian artist who worked primarily as a sculptor but also practiced painting, watercolor, drawing, and etching, embodying the nineteenth-century ideal of the multi-talented artist-craftsman. Born in Brussels and dying in Arnhem, Lacomblé's career spanned the second half of the nineteenth century, a period of significant artistic and social change in Eur...