Léon Mignon ( Liège, 9 April 1847 –

Schaerbeek (French and archaic Dutch, ) or (contemporary Dutch, ) is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the north-eastern part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, Etterbeek, Evere and S ...

, 30 September 1898) was a Belgian sculptor working in a realist idiom, known for his depiction of

bull A bull is an intact (i.e., not castrated) adult male of the species ''Bos taurus'' (cattle). More muscular and aggressive than the females of the same species (i.e., cows), bulls have long been an important symbol in many religions, includin ...

s. Born at Liège, Léon Mignon completed his studies at the Académie royale des Beaux-Arts de Liège in 1871. He made his first showing at the Salon of Ghent, and obtained a fellowship from the Fondation Darchis for further study in Italy. He set up his studio in

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in 1876 in collaboration with Paul de Vigne, then settled permanently at

. He won a gold medal at the Paris Salon for his sculpture ''Li Tore'', the Bull-Tamer (''illustration'') which provoked polemics from critics for its combination of nudity with forthright realism. ''Li Tore'', set up at Liège, became the mascot of the students, who hid it in the cellars of the Académie to protect it during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. The bull has become an

emblem An emblem is an abstract or representational pictorial image that represents a concept, like a moral truth, or an allegory, or a person, like a king or saint. Emblems vs. symbols Although the words ''emblem'' and '' symbol'' are often us ...

for all Liège, with the city motto ''"Liège, forcer l’avenir!"'', "Liège, make the future happen!" A bronze on a similar theme, his ''Le Dompteur de Taureaux'' (1881), which had been noticed at the retrospective exhibition of Belgian sculpture the previous year (in its plaster model), and was championed by Gustave Rolin-Jaequemyns, Minister of the Interior, stands on the Terrasses d'Avroy, Liège. Though a scarf had been added to the model to disguise the figure's nudity, the sculpture scandalised the editors of the Catholic daily, ''La Gazette de Liège.''Vers la modernité. Le XIXe siècle au Pays de Liège
One among his ''

animalier An animalier (, ) is an artist, mainly from the 19th century, who specializes in, or is known for, skill in the realistic portrayal of animals. "Animal painter" is the more general term for earlier artists. Although the work may be in any genre ...

'' sculptures is to be seen at the Botanical Garden of Brussels: ''The Olive Tree, or Peace'', representing an agricultural worker with his ox. His early ''Combat de taureaux dans la campagne romaine'' is conserved in the Musée Royal des Beaux-Arts, Brussels. Other sculptures include ''Hide-and-Seek'' and ''Lady Godiva''. Both Schaerbeek and Liège possess a rue Léon Mignon.

Notes

1847 births 1898 deaths Animal artists Artists from Liège 19th-century Belgian sculptors 19th-century Belgian male artists {{Belgium-sculptor-stub