Louis Robert Carrier-Belleuse was the son of the sculptor Albert Carrier-Belleuse and brother of the painter Pierre Carrier-Belleuse. He studied initially under his father before enrolling at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, where he was a pupil of Cabanel and Boulanger.

He was appointed artistic director at the Choisy-le-Roi porcelain works and was responsible for model design. As a sculptor in his own right, he is the author of the Tomb of President Barrias in Guatemala, the Costa Rica National Monument and numerous busts. As a painter, he is noted for his quasi-'photographic' rendering of various Parisian occupations such as newspaper vendors, chimney sweeps, milkmen and road workers. As a result, his body of work has an intrinsic documentary interest, as evidenced by Les Halles (1887) and other compositions such as Roadsweepers; Porters; Hard Work; Little Chimney Sweeps; Animal Sculptor. He also captured on canvas areas of Paris that were destined for demolition; his Demolition Workers, for example, is a documentary record of public works in the run-up to the building of the new Garde du Nord in 1888.

Carrier-Belleuse made his debut as a painter at the Paris Salon of 1870, but did not exhibit any of his sculpture until a later period from 1889 to 1912. He received an honourable mention in 1887 and was awarded a silver medal at the 1889 Exposition Universelle in Paris. He was later made a Chevalier of the Légion d'Honneur.

Museum and Gallery Holdings

Rochefort: Little Nosey-Parker; Newspaper Seller