Artist

(b. 1644, Geraardsbergen, d. 1730, Kerkrade)

---

Details

Flemish sculptor, active in Germany. He was the son of a Milanese cavalry captain and a Flemish mother. He trained in Antwerp with the sculptor Artus Quellinus I from 1658 and probably took part in the sculptural decoration of the Stadhuis in Amsterdam. He was in France before 1670; there he would have seen the sculptural work at the château of Versailles, executed under the direction of Charles Le Brun and François Girardon. In 1673 he was a master in the guild of the Four Crowned Heads in Brussels. He became municipal sculptor and, in 1688, court sculptor to Charles II of Spain. Among his works dating from this period are the classicising garden statues of Diana and Narcissus (Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts, Brussels) and the elaborate Rubensian wall fountain with marine gods (marble, 1675; Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts, Brussels), made for the fishmongers' guild of Brussels. He worked for various rulers, including the Spanish King Charles II, William II of Orange and the Brandenburg Elector Friedrich III. In 1695 he was invited by the Elector Johann Wilhelm of the Palatinate to the court of Düsseldorf. Here he created numerous portrays of the royal couple in marble and bronze. He was also responsible for the supervision of the craftsmen who worked on the castles of the Elector. His activities at the court ended with the death of the Elector in 1716. //

---

Category	Artists
Artists by letter	G
Artist nationality	Flemish