Lodewijk (Ludovicus or Louis) Willemssens was a Flemish sculptor, active mainly in Antwerp. Sculptured church furniture accounted for the largest part of his production, but he made numerous statues for churches in Antwerp, Paderborn and Tournai, and also sculpted marble portrait busts. Willemssens's individual style is evidenced by a weakly sensual expressiveness which goes back to Van Dyck's emotionally charged treatment of religious subjects. The allegorical personifications of Catholic doctrine, decorating the pulpit of the Church of St James in Antwerp (1673) and the figures of saints of the choir stalls of the former Cistercian Abbey of Sint-Bernards-aan-de-Schelde are good examples. //