Terracotta Bust Of Joseph Jacques Ducaju

An interesting terracotta bust of a young boy. Small sculptures by this sculptor are rare. Joseph Ducaju devoted himself to statuary and historical genre painting. He taught at the Antwerp Academy. He was one of the artists commissioned to create statues of national heroes through which the young Belgian state wished to assert its identity, such as those of Boduognat, which he exhibited notably at the Brussels Salon of 1848, where he received a vermeil medal[3].[1] or of Teniers. He also created busts of members of the royal family, such as those of King Leopold II, the Count of Flanders, and Princess Charlotte, as well as the full-length sandstone statue of Leopold II, erected in Ekeren in 1873. Joseph Ducaju is also the creator of the colossal statue of Themis wearing a helmet (1880), weighing 25 tons and surmounting the pediment of the Brussels Palace of Justice. A sculptor, Joseph Ducaju also pursued a career as a painter and exhibited, notably, Miracle of the Roses at the Brussels Salon of 1860, then Ambiorix Defeated at the Brussels Salon of 1872.