Aged ten he entered his father's shoemaking business. He studied at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts and the Sint-Lucasschool in Ghent where he won the first prize in sculpture in 1888. In 1889 he and his brother Emile De Beule set up a studio together. They began in a barn in the Sint-Pietersdorp (Sint-Pieters-Aalst) district of Ghent, on the spot where "Het Ros Beiaard" stands - he produced that sculpture for the World Exhibition of 1913 in Ghent, in collaboration with Domien Ingels, an animal sculptor, and it proved a breakthrough for both of them. De Beule was also later commissioned by the architects Jean-Baptiste Bethune and Valentin Vaerwyck. His pupils included Geo Verbanck, Leo Sarteel, Oscar Sinia, Jules Vits and Modeste Van Hecke