Le Cloître

Le Cloître  is a beautiful lithograph on ivory paper, realized by Constant Montald (1862-1944).

In good condition.

This artwork represents the cloister,  with a kneeling figure who seems to be praying.

Not signed.

Constant Montald   was a  Belgian  painter, muralist, sculptor, and teacher. 

In Paris he painted his first monumental canvas,  The Human Struggle , a 5 by 10m canvas which he later donated to the city of Ghent. There, the work was displayed in the grand hall of the Palace of Justice. Since then it is on display on a wall of the hall of the Court of Appeal.

In 1886, Montald went on to win the Belgian Prix de Rome for his work "Diagoras in triumph carried by his sons, victors of the Olympic Games of Ancient Greece". Montald's victory was extensively celebrated in his home-town of Ghent and he received a commendation and the medal from the "Society for improvement of Industry and Science".

He then went on a grand tour of Italy and was greatly impressed by the Sistine Chapel and the work of Giotto di Bondone. He traveled extensively until he eventually settled in Florence, where he made preparations for a Grand work he eventually completed in Rome. This grand work, titled "Social Contradictions", was kept in the basement of the Royal Museum of Art and History of Brussels after it was displayed there in 1890 after being sent over from Rome. In his Roman workshop, Montald painted another enormous decorative work titled "The Eolian Harps", that was displayed at the Salon of Ghent in 1892.

On 5 March 1944, Constant Montald, having become a widower in 1942, died of a stroke while leaving the tram. His will stipulated a bi-annual award for monumental art, which was implemented in 1944. His heir and executor of his will, Jean Goffin, his wife's cousin, would later sell Montald's property to the town of  Sint-Lambrechts-Woluwe .