Alphonse Van Beurden Belgian, 1854-1938

A student of Joseph Geefs at the Antwerp Academy from 1868 to 1882, Van Beurden became a member of the traditionalist group of sculptors known as ‘Al Ik Kan’. His career was focused on his native city of Antwerp where he regularly exhibited and from whose institutions he received numerous sculptural commissions for public buildings.

Van Beurden became particularly renowned for his statues of children often with sentimental or anecdotal subjects such as Eveillé trop tot (1885) or La Jalousie (1886). These groups are carved with a delicacy and fluency which can also be well appreciated in the present typical group of children. The source for the present composition is intriguing. It is very close to Antoine-Louis Barye's Groupe d'Enfants supportant une coquille, which is itself virtually identical to an engraving of three children carrying a tray with three goblets by Guido Reni. The dissemination of this motif through European art is the subject of current research.

RELATED LITERATURE

Van Lennep 1990, pp.569-570