A Cacophonic Concert, Oil On Canvas By Léon Herbo

Léon Herbo was born in Belgium and his enigmatic work included, over the course of his career, portraits, history paintings, genre scenes and orientalist themes. It was perhaps as a portrait painter that Herbo was most admired in his time.
He was born in Templeuve (France) on October 7, 1850. A student of Legendre and Stallaert at the Academies of Tournai and Brussels, Herbo mastered the art of detail. He then continued his studies in France, Germany and Italy before returning to settle in Brussels. His first exhibition took place in 1875, and he participated in exhibitions throughout Europe. He was a prolific artist and is believed to have produced over 1200 paintings during his lifetime.

In 1876, Herbo, Julien Dillens and Emile Namur founded L'Essor, the Belgian realist school. L'Essor seeks to rebel against the bourgeois and conservative ideology of the academic establishment in Belgium. The group's motto was "Eigen Kunst, Eigen Leven" ("unique art, unique life"), and it combined art exhibitions with lectures and music performances. The band members were interested in realism, but each found their own style and showcased their varied personalities. The Brussels-based group organized annual exhibitions from 1876 to 1881, as well as later exhibitions for its members in Ostend, Antwerp and London. In 1891, on the occasion of the group's 15th anniversary, the "Essoriens" inaugurated a historical retrospective exhibition of the works of their founding members at the Brussels Museum; among these are a number of works by Herbo.
Lacking a unifying ideology with which to unite realist and avant-garde painters who wished to break away from the academies, the group eventually lost members to the newly founded society Les XX in 1883, which would become one of the most important artistic societies in Belgian art, after the Salon de L'Essor rejected Ensor's The Oyster Eater because of its impressionist style.

In 1889, Herbo received an honorable mention at the Paris World's Fair and was knighted in the Order of Leopold. He continued to work in Brussels and began teaching at the Academy, of which he would soon take charge.
Most of his paintings are in private collections. Some can be seen at the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, the Painting and Sculpture Museum of Kortrijk and the Museum of Fine Arts of Tournai.