Jef LEEMPOELS 'a street in Tunisia' orientalist painting, oil on canvas

Joseph Leempoels, born in Brussels, May 15, 1867 and died in Ixelles, 1935, was a Belgian painter renowned during his lifetime for his society and official portraits, as well as his genre scenes and symbolist compositions. He also worked in other genres, such as still lifes and landscapes. His work ignored modernist developments and his style is described as academic, realist and symbolist.
At the age of 19, he began his studies at the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Brussels. He studied with painters Jean-François Portaels and Joseph Stallaert, known for their orientalist and clacissist paintings.
He won several international awards. In Paris, he won an honorable mention at the 1893 Salon and a silver medal at the 1900 Exposition Universelle. He won a gold medal at the Antwerp Salon in 1894, and a gold medal in St Louis, USA. Leempoels also won medals in Vienna and Buenos Aires (Grand Prix at the Exposition del Centenario in 1910) and was honored by the Belgian and French governments (Légion d'Honneur). Like many artists of the time, Leempoels was financially supported by the monarchy, the government and many members of the aristocracy (national and international), through numerous portrait commissions (portraits of Leopold II and Albert I). Leempoels was a member of the Société des Beaux-Arts de Paris and a correspondent of the Milan Academy of Fine Arts.
Leempoels painted in many genres, including portraits, genre paintings, nudes, history, landscapes and still lifes.