[Joseph Marie Thomas]. Belgian sculptor, born at Antwerp. He studied at the Antwerp Academy of Fine Arts, and was a pupil of Jean Geefs. His first work, War, was exhibited in 1871, and was followed by a long series of humorous groups, including Children dancing, Say Good Morning, The Lucky Number and An Accident (1875). He then went to Paris, where he executed for the Belgian salons The Beggar and The Blind Pauper, and produced The Kiss (1881), generally regarded as his masterpiece. After visiting Italy, where he was much impressed by the works of Jean Bologne, he showed a strong predilection for effects of force and motion. Other notable works are his fountain at Antwerp (1886), Robbing the Eagles Eyrie (1890), Drunkenness (1893), The Triumph of Woman, The Bitten Faun (which created a great stir at the Exposition Universelle at Liége in 1905), and The Human Passions, a colossal marble bas-relief, elaborated from a sketch exhibited in 1889. Of his numerous busts may be mentioned those of Hendrik Conscience, and of Charles Bals, the burgomaster of Brussels. He died on the 6th of June 1908.