Constant Montald

Who was Constant Montald?

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

Montald trained at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Ghent, then lived and studied briefly in Paris with fellow artist Henri Privat-Livemont at the École des Beaux-Arts. In Paris he painted his first monumental canvas, The Human Struggle, meant for the Brussels Palace of Justice, now found in the Museum of Fine Arts in Ghent.

Montald won the Belgian Prix de Rome in 1886, which provided him three years in Italy and Egypt. In 1891 he returned to Belgium, and five years later became instructor at the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts, a post he would hold until 1932. His students there include some of the best-known names of Belgian painters: René Magritte and Paul Delvaux, along with many others.

Montald's work includes the sgraffito painted tympanum of the Dutch Royal Theater in Ghent, for architect Edmond De Vigne, 1897-1899.