Gerlier (b.1826; French/Belgian)
Inauguration of Monument… Constitution of Belgium (c.1859)
Colour lithograph
Presented by the Belgian Government, 1868
National Gallery of Victoria (p.179.14-1)
The constitution of modern Belgium, which dates back to 1831, was commemorated in the Colonne du Congrès or Independence Column, erected in Brussels from 1850-59, to a design by Joseph Poelart (1817-79).
The printmaker (known only by his single name) was born in Paris, worked in the USA, and was then active as a lithographer in Belgium from 1845 until he returned to Paris in 1861.
Refs.
PF (1868); AR 1870-71, p.35: as by Gerlier, donated by Belgian government; also crediting Simoneau & Toovey (the Belgian publishers?); not listed in NGV 1894 or 1905
For Gerlier, see Bénézit 6, p.69 and AKL 52 (2006), p.173. See also the commemorative book by Félix Stappaerts, La Colonne du Congrès a Bruxelles, Brussels, 1860, which included several black and white prints signed by Gerlier, showing the column and various details (available via Google Books: https://books.google.com.au/books?id=tFFbAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA8&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false