Laurens van der Meulen
Laurence Vander Meulen, born in Mechelen in 1643 and died in his hometown in 1719 is a Flemish sculptor.
Biography
Laurence Vander Meulen began his training in his hometown, which had a rich school of sculpture, and after beginning the study of painting, he was attracted by this art and trained at twenty, that is to say late enough to an apprentice, in the workshop of the renowned Malinois sculptor Pierre Vander Stock. He did not stay there long, and before reaching mastery, which he will accomplish after his return to Mechelen, he went to England where, following the London fire and his rebuilding, there was a strong demand in the crafts.
He went to join the important colony of Flemish artists, painters, sculptors, upholsterers, etc. who was active there.
This is how it is found in London alongside other compatriots[1], like Arnold Quellin, the son of Artus Quellin, John Nost, also Malinois, Antoon Verhuke and Peter Van Dievoet, in the workshop of Grinling Gibbons a Virtuoso sculptor in the fine carving of floral motifs.
Considering no doubt that his training was sufficient and he now equaled his master he returned in 1687 in his hometown, which allowed him to avoid the troubles of the Revolution of 1688.
In order to be able to settle on his own country, he completed the formalities to achieve mastery and then married Cornelia-Thérèse de Croes, sister-in-law of the sculptor Jean-Luc Fayd'herbe, son of the great sculptor Luc Fayd'herbe, he was entering the most influential art scene in the Netherlands.
He thus began a fruitful career as an ornamental sculptor, decorating many churches and mansions with his ornaments composed of garlands of flowers, scissors and the fine carving of a goldsmith. Beside this, religious statues, virgins, and some busts are also mentioned.
Despite the abundance of his work it has become very rare and scattered, which makes the study difficult.
Bibliography
- Emmanuel Neefs, Histoire de la peinture et de la sculpture à Malines, Gand, imprimerie E. Vanderhaegen, 1876, 2 vol.
- Adolphe Siret, Dictionnaire historique des peintres de toutes les écoles: depuis les temps les plus reculés jusqu'à nos jours, Librairie Encyclopédique de Périchon, 1848.
- Messager des sciences historiques, 1836.
Notes
- ^ "Gibbons, Grinling", in : Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, vol. 22, pp. 29-30 : "The attribution of these works is complicated by the presence of the highly trained Flemish sculptors whom Gibbons had gathered into his workshop by the end of the 1670s. These included Arnold Quellin (the nephew of Artus Quellinus I), John Nost, and Anthony Verhuke, joined in the next decade by, among others, Laurens Vander Meulen and Pierre Van Dievoet. Their experience and skill as makers of statues may have exceeded his own".
Sources
This article is a translation of the article in French Wikipedia Laurent Vander Meulen.