Head of the Dead Christ at The Fine Arts Museum in Ghent, Belgium

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Paul de Vigne, a renowned Belgian sculptor, was born in Ghent in 1843. He was trained by his father, a skilled statuary, and began showcasing his talents early on, exhibiting his Fra Angeico da Fiesole at the Ghent Salon in 1868. In 1872, he made a striking impression at the Brussels Salon with his marble statue Heliotrope, displayed at the Ghent Gallery. Three years later, at the Brussels Salon, Beatrix and Domenica stole the show. De Vigne's exceptional skills caught the attention of the government, who hired him to create caryatides for the majestic facade of the Royal Conservatory of Brussels. In 1876, he exhibited busts of E. Hid and W. Wilson at the Antwerp Salon, which were later placed in the communal museum at Brussels. De Vigne's artistic journey continued in Paris until 1882, where he crafted the marble statue Immortality, displayed at the Brussels Gallery, and The Crowning of Art, a bronze group adorning the facade of the Palais des Beaux-Arts at Brussels. His tribute to Jan Breydel and Pieter de Coninck was unveiled at Bruges in 1887. At his passing, De Vigne left behind an unfinished masterpiece, the Anspach monument, which was eventually completed under the guidance of architect Janlet with the assistance of various sculptors. Among De Vigne's notable works are Volumnia, Poverella (1878), a bronze bust of Psyche at the Brussels Gallery, its ivory replica, the marble statue of Marnix de Ste Aldegonde on the Sablon Square in Brussels, the Metdepenningen monument in the Ghent cemetery, and the monument to Canon de Haerne at Kortrijk.