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A brief history of the sculpture
in the present-day Netherlands and Belgium
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2
In the first half
of the 16th century, the Antwerp production of carved altarpieces
gradually introduced Classical motifs amid its profusion of
Gothicizing detail and Mannerist fanciful costumes and caricatured
poses. The strong indigenous tradition of Gothic sculpture prevented
a simple adoption of a foreign decorative vocabulary (whether
classical or contemporary Italian or French); instead, the main
sculptors’ workshops produced often idiosyncratic and eclectic
sculpture, which has unhappily been termed Flemish Renaissance or
Mosan Renaissance for the distinct Liège-region sculpture, for want
of a better name.
The court at
Mechelen became the preeminent center for the adoption of a new
stylistic mode. There, foreign artists worked in the idiom of the
Renaissance, largely imported from Italy, although frequently via
complex routes and media (particularly prints). Conrad Meit
(1480-1551) executed the lavish tomb of Margaret of Austria
(1526-32) in the church of Saint-Nicolas de Tolentin at Brou, as
well as the marble bust of the Virgin with the Christ Child,
now in Brussels’ cathedral. Jan Mone (ca. 1480-ca. 1549) carved
alabaster altarpieces for the church of Sint-Martinus, Halle (1533),
and the chapel of the ducal palace in Brussels (1538-41, now in the
cathedral, Brussels), as well as the tomb of Cardinal Guillaume de
Croÿ (ca. 1528, now in the Capuchin church at Enghien).
In other circles,
the Renaissance was also forcefully introduced via court circles.
Lancelot Blondeel designed the spectacular mantelpiece executed by
Guyot de Beaugrant in the aldermen’s chamber of the -Brugse
Vrije (Bruges). The Grote Kerk at Breda contains some
remarkable tomb monuments which also introduced the new Renaissance
idiom, particularly the ca. 1526-38 tomb monument to Engelbert II
van Nassau and his wife, until now unconvincingly attributed.
Jacques Dubroeucq
(ca. 1500/10-1584), best known for his rood screen (now dismantled)
at the church of Sainte-Waudru, Mons, and the master of Giambologna,
replaced Mone as court sculptor near the end of Mone’s active life.
He was part of a new generation of sculptors, including the
internationally known artists Willem van den Broeck, alias Paludanus
(1530-79), and Jacques Jonghelinck (1530-1606), who interpreted the
classical tradition from a novel and archaeologically more accurate
perspective. As part of his classical interests, Jonghelinck was
also a remarkable medalist.
Antwerp became the
preeminent center of sculptural production in the Low Countries at
the time of the architectural and sculptural activities of Cornelis
Floris (1514-75) in the mid 16th century, remaining so until about
the middle of the 18th century. Antwerp engaged in such export to
other cities despite the guild system privileging artistic
production within the city walls. The production of much sculpture
in the southern Netherlands had become protoindustrial, aiming to
satisfy the increasing demand emanating from a wide range of
patrons, particularly from northern and central Europe. Other
artists widely imitated Floris’s workshop organization: many
assistants worked under the guidance of a supervisor and to the
designs of the master or some other artist’s designs. Floris was not
only responsible for the erection of the new town hall of Antwerp
(1561-65) but also widely exported sculpture, particularly tomb
monuments, of which those to the kings of Denmark were some of the
most spectacular.
Although execution
was generally (although not always) of decent quality, Floris’s
workshop system enabled the master to free himself from the hard
manual work and to concentrate on designing. In addition, Pieter
Coecke van Aalst, Hans Vredeman de Vries, and Floris published many
of their designs in the form of illustrated treatises, pattern
books, and loose prints, which display a repertory of motifs and
ornaments for use in a variety of decorative schemes. Through these
publications, the artists could significantly assert their
reputation and social status. Such publications, together with the
emigration of many sculptors during the religious wars of the late
16th century, helped widely disseminate the style of Flemish
Renaissance sculpture throughout northern and central Europe.
In this context
should be mentioned the De Nole dynasty of sculptors. They had moved
from Cambrai to Utrecht (and later played an important role in the
Baroque period in Antwerp) and had adopted the complex Renaissance
decorative idiom in their many tomb monuments as well as in the
well-known chimneypiece of the town hall at Kampen (1543-45).
Several prominent
sculptors from what was effectively to become the separate northern
Netherlands by the late 16th century spent a number of years in
Italy, training in important workshops and acquiring skills as
sculptors and as bronze casters. Because the Netherlands hardly had
a market for such sculptors to make a living, most of them
eventually emigrated. Willem Daniëlsz. van Tetrode (ca. 1510-75)
spent 20 years in Italy before returning home, eventually leaving
for Cologne (in 1574) during the iconoclastic outbreak. He produced
a number of mythological bronze and alabaster groups that show his
interest in the antique and in strong musculatures. The Nijmegen-born
Johann Gregor van der Schardt (ca. 1530 - after 1581) spent many
years in Italian cities before being employed by Maximilian II in
Nuremberg in 1570. There, he modeled several polychrome terracotta
busts, including a self-portrait (now in the Rijksmuseum,
Amsterdam), that display a remarkable naturalism. Hubert Gerhard
(ca. 1540/50-1621), similarly trained in Italy, was active mainly in
Munich and Augsburg as a sculptor in bronze (known especially for
his monumental fountains), terracotta and plaster. Adriaen de Vries
(1546-1626), also of Dutch origin (The Hague), traveled to Italy
early in life, working in Giambologna’s and Pompeo Leoni’s studios
before building a career in Augsburg and Prague.
Hendrik I de
Keyser (1565-1621) continued the tradition of the late 16th-century
Dutch sculptors, producing important works in bronze. His
masterpiece is no doubt the mausoleum to William the Silent
(1614-22), which signaled a high point in Dutch sculpture not to be
equaled for several decades. He also produced the over-life-size
statue of Erasmus at Rotterdam (1622). De Keyser’s talents
were many, and he was the first to introduce white Carrara marble to
the northern Netherlands, which he used to carve the bust of
Vincent Jacobsz. Coster (1608).
The revolts of the
1560s and 1570s and the consequent emigration of many sculptors led
to a stagnation in the production of artistic goods (including its
high-end, sculpture). Only under the archdukes Albert and Isabella
(r. 1598-1621/1633), and especially during the Twelve Year Truce
(1609-21), did a rebuilding and redecoration campaign of the
mutilated or destroyed Catholic churches begin. This campaign
continued for the rest of the 17th century and provided sculptors
with many important commissions. The monumental and sumptuous
sculpture ordered to fill the churches anew emphasized and justified
the new liturgy of the Counter Reformation. The prosperity that one
could achieve as a sculptor gradually raised the status of the
profession. The move from the stonecutters’ guild to the artists’
(St. Luke) guild was conspicuous in many cities and was accompanied
by frequent disputes between the guild members.
The truce also
coincided with Peter Paul Rubens’s return from Italy (1608), and
because he is generally credited with the introduction of the
Baroque style in Flemish sculpture, this date marks the beginning of
Baroque conceptions in Low Countries sculpture. Naturalism was a key
concept of the new style. Rubens’s influence was not a simple
matter: patrons frequently requested his opinion, if not actual
designs by him. The Jesuit church of Antwerp (now the church of
Sint-Carolus-Borromeus and once the most lavish church of the Low
Countries), for example, was largely built following his ideas, as
is attested by a series of designs he drew or painted.
Sculptors such as
the De Nole family executed such sculptures, particularly the
large-scale monumental projects, as did Hans van Mildert
(1588-1638), a friend and frequent collaborator of Rubens. None of
these sculptors, however, were of any consequence in terms of
quality. Only with François
Duquesnoy and Artus I
Quellin of the
subsequent generation did a high level of sculpture production make
a new start in the Low Countries. François
Duquesnoy, however,
spent little time in his home country, going to Rome at age 21. His
presence in the north is traceable only in terms of models traveling
back with his brother Hiëronymus II on François
Duquesnoy’s death
in 1643, as well as casts, drawings, and prints after his statues.
Artus I Quellin, on the other hand, kept his workshop running, led
by his brother-in-law Pieter I Verbrugghen (1615-86), while he was
in Amsterdam sculpting the extensive Carrara marble decoration of
the town hall on the Dam (now a royal palace).
Construction of the
Amsterdam town hall began in 1648, to coincide with the peace treaty
of Münster that ratified the separation of the Northern Netherlands
from the Southern. It aimed to be the eighth wonder of the world.
Built in the Baroque fashion with an immensely complex iconography
drawing on biblical and classical sources, it also emulated the
Temple of Solomon. Its decoration therefore had to be durable and
lavish. The court architect Jacob van Campen was responsible for the
project, and the sculptural decoration was given to Artus I
Quellin, who gathered a large workshop around him, including his
nephew Artus II Quellin (1625-1700), Rombout Verhulst (1624-98),
and probably Bartholomeus Eggers (ca. 1630-92). The building’s
decoration took more than 15 years to complete, of which the two
pediments, the eight high-relief gods framing the main floor, and
the three reliefs in the justice chamber are the most well known.
Quellin’s plastic style, combining northern naturalism with the
High Baroque Classicism of Duquesnoy, was also used in the Dutch
Palladian buildings of the 1630s to 1660s.
Artus I Quellin
also restored the level of portrait sculpture to what it had been in
the hands of a Van der Schardt or a Hendrik de Keyser. Among his
series of busts made during his work on the town hall is that of the
burgomaster Andries de Graeff (1665, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam).
This figure also blends a high degree of naturalism and rendition of
texture with the dignity afforded by the classical idiom. Twenty
years earlier François Dieussart (ca. 1600-61) had already
introduced Roman Baroque Classicism in the numerous court portraits
that he produced for the courts of northern Europe, including the
court at The Hague.
Verhulst and Eggers
later built their own careers in the Northern Netherlands (as well
as in northern Germany), especially with a series of monumental
tombs to national heroes. Jacob van Campen designed the tomb of
admiral Maarten Tromp (1654-57, Oude Kerk, Delft), which was
executed by Rombout Verhulst, apart from the low relief with the
battle scene and the decorative sculpture created by Willem de
Keyser (1603-after 1678), one of Hendrik’s sons. Pieter Xavery (ca.
1647-after 1674) seems to have specialized in terracotta figures and
groups, whereas Albert Jansz. Vinckenbrinck (ca. 1604-64/65)
preferred boxwood. Vinckenbrinck also created the intricate but
monumental pulpit (ca. 1646-49) in the Nieuwe Kerk,
Amsterdam. Most sculptors of the 17th and 18th centuries, however,
both north and south, carved in ivory. Unfortunately, these works
are primarily known from contemporary biographers, and it is today
difficult to establish clear authorship because few of these pieces
are signed. One exception is the 17th-century artist Francis van
Bossuit (ca. 1635-92), who specialized in ivory carving.
In Antwerp,
together with Artus I Quellin, Peter I Verbrugghen trained a whole
generation of sculptors in Antwerp, including Peter II Verbrugghen
(ca. 1640-91) and Mattheus van Beveren (1630-90). They were all
active in a number of projects, carving and sculpting altars,
confessionals, pulpits, choir stalls, pier statues, communion rails,
rood lofts, and so on for the wealthy religious orders. Their strong
family businesses enabled them to engage in huge collaborative
projects, such as the high altar of the church of Sint-Jacob in
Antwerp. Similarly, collaboration with joiners and other sculptors
facilitated the completion of large-scale paneling, incorporating
fully three-dimensional sculptural confessionals. Dynasties of
sculptors were common, and they vied for the same lucrative
projects, thereby often creating controversies leading to court
action. In this respect Lucas Faydherbe (1617-97) should be named,
as he attracted an unrivalled number of lawsuits, mainly with his
patrons. His association with Rubens nevertheless brought him much
fame.
Faydherbe’s
training in Rubens’s studio meant that it took him many years to
free himself from the stylistic influence of Rubens, with his often
heavy, genrelike figures, which are traditionally contrasted with
the classicism that Hiëronymus II Duquesnoy derived from his brother
François. Scholars traditionally contrast Faydherbe’s tomb monument
to the archbishop Andreas Cruesen (1659-66) in Mechelen’s cathedral
with Hiëronymus
Duquesnoy’s to
the bishop Antonius Triest (1651-54) in Ghent’s cathedral, although
the wishes of their patrons and actual similarity are rarely noted.
Faydherbe did have a relatively large following, with sculptors such
as Frans Langhemans (1661-ca. 1720) and Jan-Frans Boeckstuyns (ca.
1650-1734), unlike his contemporaries and rivals Hiëronymus II
Duquesnoy, Nicolaas van der Veken (1637-1709) and Jan van der Steen
(1633-1725).
In the Mosan
region, sculptors such as Lambert Duhontoir (1603-61) and Robert
Henrard (1617-76) worked in an academic classicism akin to that
prevalent at the French court. The more famous Jean Delcour adopted
a fully fledged Baroque idiom, allegedly derived from Gianlorenzo
Bernini during an assumed prolonged stay in Rome, although he seems
to have had more contact with the work of Alessandro Algardi. His
idiosyncratic understanding of the purpose, for instance, of a
profusion of drapery, is most evident in works such as his Dead
Christ (1696) in Liège’s current cathedral.
The Late Baroque
period in Antwerp, beginning about 1670, gradually increased the
elegance and refinement of the previous Baroque vocabulary. One of
the main exponents of the late Baroque, Artus II Quellin brought
Flemish sculpture to new heights. He in turn trained the next
generation of sculptors, including Alexander van Papenhoven. Other
important sculptors included Guillielmus Kerricx, Peter I
Scheemakers (1652-1714), Michiel I van der Voort, and Jan Peter I
van Baurscheit (1669-1728), and Henricus-Franciscus Verbrugghen
(1654-1724) developed an idiosyncratic draftsmanship style that is
perceptible in the realizations, both sculpted and architectural.
The end of the 17th
century also marked the end of the prosperous business Flemish
sculptors obtained from so many church authorities and related
patrons. The restoration of the Catholic Church was nearing
completion, and the fervor had evaporated. Moreover, the slackening
economy of the Southern Netherlands meant that patronage became
rarer. Increasing numbers of sculptors thus emigrated and
contributed significantly to the field of European sculpture,
including Martin van den Bogaert, alias Desjardins, Gerard van
Opstal, Philippe de Buyster, Sébastien Slodtz and Jean Warin in
Paris, Peter II Scheemakers and Michael Rysbrack in London, Gabriel
Grupello in Düsseldorf, and Wilhelm de Groff and Aegid Verhelst in
Munich. Others diversified their interests to include such
activities as designing prints; an increasing number moved toward
architecture. The export of garden sculpture, especially to England,
remained an important source of revenue.
Classicizing
tendencies or Rococo features in the early years of the 18th century
were generally associated with new commissions for secular
sculpture, while the few church commissions (notably from some
wealthy abbeys that were being constructed) often maintained the
traditional Baroque vocabulary so well adapted to the specificities
of liturgical function and style of the Catholic Church. This
tradition for church commissions continued into the 19th century
with such sculptors as Jan Frans van Geel (1756-1830) who had the
versatility to adapt their style to the particular commissions,
reinterpreting Baroque vocabulary in such a way that their early
19th-century pieces have not infrequently been mistaken for late
17th-century ones.
Gradually the
preeminence of Antwerp as the sculptural center of the Low Countries
began to wane, as other regional centers took over, in particular
Bruges, Ghent and Nivelles. Iconographic and stylistic renewal on a
local basis encouraged dispersal of skill and enterprise toward
these other cities. The court in Brussels continued to be an
important source for commissions, which Laurent Delvaux (based in
Nivelles) was largely able to tap as the officially appointed
sculptor. His initial career in England and Rome largely determined
his highly classical style, which he later infused with “northern”
naturalism. The pulpit he carved for the cathedral of Ghent
(1741-45), where for the first time he included large blocks of
Carrara marble, demonstrates this blending of traditions.
In the Northern
Netherlands, local sculptors, of whom many were émigrés from the
south, increasingly fulfilled commissions. Jan-Baptist Xavery
(1697-1742) is mainly remembered for his portrait sculpture,
particularly his bronzed terracotta bust of the painter Balthasar
Denner (Gemeentemuseum, The Hague), though he was a versatile
sculptor in such other materials as ivory, boxwood and marble. He
was court sculptor to stadholder Willem IV. His contemporaries were
the productive sculptors Ignatius van Logteren (1685-1732) and his
son Jan van Logteren (1709-45).Just before the French Revolution,
sculptors, increasingly geared toward the decoration of secular
projects, adopted the strict Neoclassical style, thereby largely
eliminating figurative elements. Sculptors such as Willem Hendrik
van der Wall (1716-90) and Anthonie Ziesenis (1731-1801) worked in
the northern Netherlands, as well as, for a couple of years, the
reknown French sculptor Etienne-Maurice Falconet.
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