LEEMPOELS, 1En/spools, Jef (Joseph), Belgian painter: b. Brussels, 15 May 1867. He studied at the Brussels Academy of Art under Portaels and Stallaert and specialized as a por trait and figure painter. He received the great state medal at Vienna in 1895 and was awarded gold medals at Saint Louis (1904), Antwerp, Paris and Buenos Aires. He is a chevalier of the Legion Of Honor and of the Order of Leo pold. His portraits include those of Belgian royalty and nobility, and he also spent a sea son in New York engaged in portrait work His figure paintings are on the symbolic order and he is noted for his strong technique, fine coloring and careful finish. His
' LEER, lir, Prussia, 'city and riverport in the province of Hanover,• 58 miles east of Groningen,' on The river Leda near its con fluence with the Ems, and at a junction of railways to Bremen, Emden and Munster. The town is very old but its municipal privileges date only from 1823. The heathen place• of sacrifice is near here. Leer furnishes
boat connections with the North Sea health resorts, Borkum and Norderney, holds markets for livestock and has an extensive trade in foodstuffs, paper, hardware and Westphalian coal. Manufactures include textile industries, iron foundries, shipbuilding yards,' and soap, cigar, vinegar and earthenware factories. Leer has broad, well-paved streets, a harbor im proved in 1903, fine churches, a town-hall with a tower 165 feet high, and schools for the study of navigation and the classics. Pop. 12,690.