François Dieussart (also Frans;

Armentières Armentières (; vls, Armentiers) is a commune in the Nord department in the Hauts-de-France region in northern France. It is part of the Métropole Européenne de Lille. The motto of the town is ''Pauvre mais fière'' (Poor but proud). Geogra ...

, c. 1600 –

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, 1661) was a Walloon sculptor who worked for court patrons in England, the

Dutch Republic The United Provinces of the Netherlands, also known as the (Seven) United Provinces, officially as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands (Dutch: ''Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Nederlanden''), and commonly referred to in historiography ...

and northern Europe, producing portrait busts in the Italianate manner.

Life and Work

Dieussart was likely an active sculptor by the time he arrived in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

in his early twenties. He appears in an entry from 1622 at the charitable organisation run at the

Church of St. Julian of the Flemings The Church of St. Julian of the Flemings ( it, Chiesa di S. Giuliano dei Fiamminghi, nl, Sint-Juliaan-der-Vlamingen, french: Saint-Julien des Flamands, la, S. Iuliani Flandrensium) is a Roman Catholic church dedicated to Saint Julian the Hospit ...

and had become its director by 1630. He was invited to England by the

Earl of Arundel Earl of Arundel is a title of nobility in England, and one of the oldest extant in the English peerage. It is currently held by the Duke of Norfolk, and is used (along with the Earl of Surrey) by his heir apparent as a courtesy title. The e ...

in 1636, and made a reputation there with the construction of a magnificent mechanical

monstrance A monstrance, also known as an ostensorium (or an ostensory), is a vessel used in Roman Catholic, Old Catholic, High Church Lutheran and Anglican churches for the display on an altar of some object of piety, such as the consecrated Eucharistic Sa ...

forty feet (12.2 metres) high for Queen Henrietta Maria's chapel at

Somerset House Somerset House is a large Neoclassical complex situated on the south side of the Strand in central London, overlooking the River Thames, just east of Waterloo Bridge. The Georgian era quadrangle was built on the site of a Tudor palace ("O ...

. His bust of

Charles I of England Charles I (19 November 1600 – 30 January 1649) was King of England, Scotland, and Ireland from 27 March 1625 until Execution of Charles I, his execution in 1649. He was born into the House of Stuart as the second son of King James VI of ...

, probably commissioned by Arundel, is at

Arundel Castle Arundel Castle is a restored and remodelled medieval castle in Arundel, West Sussex, England. It was established during the reign of Edward the Confessor and completed by Roger de Montgomery. The castle was damaged in the English Civil War a ...

, Another portrait bust of Charles I in

Windsor Castle Windsor Castle is a royal residence at Windsor in the English county of Berkshire. It is strongly associated with the English and succeeding British royal family, and embodies almost a millennium of architectural history. The original cast ...

, possibly by

Thomas Adye Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the A ...

Francis Bird Francis Bird (1667–1731) was one of the leading English sculptors of his time. He is mainly remembered for sculptures in Westminster Abbey and St Paul's Cathedral. He carved a tomb for the dramatist William Congreve in Westminster Abbey and s ...

(c. 1737–44) is speculatively thought to be based on a now lost bust by Dieussart. He is mentioned in a poem by

Cornelis de Bie Cornelis de Bie (10 February 1627 – ) was a Flemish '' rederijker'', poet, jurist and minor politician from Lier. He is the author of about 64 works, mostly comedies. He is known internationally today for his biographical sketches of Flemish ...

in his book

Het Gulden Cabinet ''Het Gulden Cabinet vande Edel Vry Schilder-Const'' or ''The Golden Cabinet of the Noble Liberal Art of Painting'' is a book by the 17th-century Flemish notary and ''Chamber of rhetoric, rederijker'' Cornelis de Bie published in Antwerp. Writte ...

as being court sculptor for the Stuarts in England. A brief biographical sketch for Dieussart was published in the early art dictionary

Teutsche Academie The ''German Academy of the Noble Arts of Architecture, Sculpture and Painting'', or ''Teutsche Academie'', refers to a comprehensive dictionary of art by Joachim von Sandrart published in the late 17th century. The first version was published in ...

Joachim von Sandrart Joachim von Sandrart (12 May 1606 – 14 October 1688) was a German Baroque art-historian and painter, active in Amsterdam during the Dutch Golden Age. He is most significant for his collection of biographies of Dutch and German artists the ''Te ...

. According to the

RKD The Netherlands Institute for Art History or RKD (Dutch: RKD-Nederlands Instituut voor Kunstgeschiedenis), previously Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie (RKD), is located in The Hague and is home to the largest art history center i ...

he learned his trade in Rome from

François Duquesnoy François Duquesnoy or Frans Duquesnoy (12 January 1597 – 18 July 1643) was a Flanders, Flemish Baroque sculptor who was active in Rome for most of his career. His idealized representations are often contrasted with the more emotional character ...

.François Dieussart
in the

Literature

* Frits Scholten, ''François Dieussart,

Constantijn Huygens Sir Constantijn Huygens, Lord of Zuilichem ( , , ; 4 September 159628 March 1687), was a Dutch Golden Age poet and composer. He was also secretary to two Princes of Orange: Frederick Henry and William II, and the father of the scientist C ...

, and the Classical Ideal in Funerary Sculpture'', Simiolus: Netherlands Quarterly for the History of Art, Vol. 25, No. 4. (1997), pp. 303–328. *

Notes and References

External links

* People from Armentières Baroque sculptors Court sculptors 1661 deaths Belgian sculptors Year of birth unknown Walloon people Year of birth uncertain {{Belgium-sculptor-stub