Biography

Godefroid Devreese was born into a creative family in Kortrijk, Belgium. In his childhood the boy studied under his father, the sculptor Constant Devreese, and then continued his studies with Charles van der Stappen at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Brussels. He specialised in large formats: reliefs, memorials and public monuments.

Devreese travelled to England, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands and France. He became famous as a sculptor and medallist, a permanent participant in numerous exhibitions around the world. His works were highly praised by international critics. Godefroid Devreese regularly received medals and honours, including the Grand Prix de Belgique (1882; 1886), the Godecharle Prize for his sculpture 'David with the Head of Goliath’ (1885), and the Roman Medal of the Second Class for his relief on the death of Caesar (1885). After participating in the Paris Salon in 1895 with his sculpture ‘The Wrestler’, the sculptor was admitted to the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts de France. In 1899, Godefroid Devreese won a competition to create a large memorial to the 600^th anniversary of the Battle of the Golden Spurs (was opened in 1906). He held the titles of Honorary Member of the Academy of Brussels, Commander of the Order of Leopold, Officer of the Order of the Crown and of the Legion of Honour.

In addition to his monumental sculptures, beginning from 1895 Devreese designed more than 400 medals for the Royal Belgian Mint, thus gaining a reputation as an innovator in the numismatic and medallic arts. He created several Belgian francs with the portrait of King Albert I (1910-1931) and a nickel ten-franc coin (1930) with the portraits of Leopold I, Leopold II and Albert III.

https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O350084/brussels-international-exhibition-medal-devreese-godefroid/
https://art-globe.ru/author/1244/