Laurent Delvaux (1696, in

Ghent Ghent ( nl, Gent ; french: Gand ; traditional English: Gaunt) is a city and a municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the East Flanders province, and the third largest in the country, exceeded in ...

– 24 February 1778, in

Nivelles Nivelles (; nl, Nijvel, ; wa, Nivele; vls, Neyvel) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the Belgian province of Walloon Brabant. The Nivelles municipality includes the former municipalities of Baulers, Bornival, Thines, and Monstre ...

) was a

Flemish Flemish (''Vlaams'') is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Dutch ( ), or Southern Dutch (). Flemish is native to Flanders, a historical region in northern Belgium; ...

sculptor. After a successful international career that brought him to

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 ...

and

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 ...

, he returned to the Austrian Netherlands where he was a sculptor to the court. Delvaux was a transitional figure between the

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

and

Neo-classicism Neoclassicism (also spelled Neo-classicism) was a Western cultural movement in the decorative Beauty is commonly described as a feature of objects that makes these objects pleasurable to perceive. Such objects include landscapes, sunsets, ...

Life

Training

Delvaux probably trained in his native

under the local sculptor J. B. van Helderberghe. At the age of 18 he went to

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

to study under

Pierre-Denis Plumier Pierre-Denis Plumier (4 March 1688 – 24 February 1721) was a Flemish sculptor. Biography Plumier was born in Antwerp in 1688, the son of Franciscus Puymier and Anna Schobbens. In 1699 he was apprenticed to the sculptor Louis Willemsen in Antw ...

from

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

and attended the local drawing academy.Laurent Delvaux
at the

Netherlands Institute for Art History 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 ...

London

He went to London in 1717 where he collaborated with his compatriot

Peter Scheemakers Peter Scheemakers or Pieter Scheemaeckers II or the Younger (10 January 1691 – 12 September 1781) was a Flemish sculptor who worked for most of his life in London. His public and church sculptures in a classicist style had an important influenc ...

. When they were joined by Plumier in 1721 they worked together on a number of marble funerary monuments, including that of John Sheffield, duke of Buckingham (1721–22,

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United ...

). After Plumier died soon after his arrival in 1721, Delvaux and Scheemakers are believed to have collaborated with

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 ...

on the marble monument to

John Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle John Holles, Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, KG, PC (9 January 1662 – 15 July 1711) was an English peer. Early life Holles was born in Edwinstowe, Nottinghamshire, the son of the 3rd Earl of Clare and his wife Grace Pierrepont. Grace was a d ...

, also in Westminster Abbey.Helena Bussers. "Delvaux, Laurent."
Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. Web. 29 April 2014 Scheemakers and Delvaux entered into a formal partnership and set up a workshop in Millbank, Westminster, in 1723. Their workshop produced many sober classical monuments and garden statuary after the Antique. The partners sold their stock in the partnership and travelled to Rome in 1728.Helena Bussers and Ingrid Roscoe. "Scheemakers."
Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. Web. 27 March 2014

Rome

In Rome, Delvaux studied the work of compatriots

Giambologna Giambologna (1529 – 13 August 1608), also known as Jean de Boulogne (French), Jehan Boulongne (Flemish) and Giovanni da Bologna (Italian), was the last significant Italian Renaissance sculptor, with a large workshop producing large and small ...

and

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 ...

as well as Italian sculpture of the 17th century and of his contemporaries. He keenly admired the sculpture of Classical antiquity and took the opportunity to copy newly discovered pieces. While in Rome, John Russell, 4th Duke of Bedford, commissioned a number of works inspired by antique examples, most notably '' Caunus and Byblis''. This group is a free version of a sculpture by

Pierre Le Gros the Younger Pierre Le Gros (12 April 1666 Paris – 3 May 1719 Rome) was a French sculptor, active almost exclusively in Baroque Rome where he was the pre-eminent sculptor for nearly two decades.Gerhard Bissell, ''Pierre le Gros, 1666–1719'', Reading ...

of some 20 or so years earlier where Le Gros had deliberately added heads, hands and legs to a fragmented antique group of ''

Amor and Psyche Cupid and Psyche is a story originally from ''Metamorphoses'' (also called ''The Golden Ass''), written in the 2nd century AD by Lucius Apuleius Madaurensis (or Platonicus). The tale concerns the overcoming of obstacles to the love between Psyc ...

'' in such a way that it turned the love story on its head and instead of Amor showed Caunus as he vehemently defends himself against the sexual advances of his sister.Gerhard Bissell, ''Haud dubiè Amoris & Psyches imagines fuerunt statuæ istæ'', in: Max Kunze, Axel Rügler (ed.), ''Wiedererstandene Antike. Ergänzungen antiker Kunstwerke seit der Renaissance'' (Cyriacus. Studien zur Rezeption der Antike, Band 1), München 2003, pp. 73-80.

Return to the Austrian Netherlands

Gent, Sint-Baafskathedraal Preekstoel B STB 122 10

Upon his return to the Austrian Netherlands in 1733, he became a court sculptor. He also received many religious commissions including the oak group of the Conversion of St Paul dated 1736 (now in the Collegiate Church of St Gertrude in Nivelles). The same church also holds a series of oak statues of the Apostles sculpted by Delvaux in 1743–4. The pulpit (1741–5) in the

Saint Bavo Cathedral Saint Bavo's Cathedral, also known as Sint-Baafs Cathedral ( nl, Sint Baafskathedraal), is a cathedral of the Catholic Church in Ghent, Belgium. The 89-meter-tall Gothic building is the seat of the Diocese of Ghent and is named for Saint Bavo of ...

in Ghent was made by him after a design by

Hendrik Frans Verbrugghen Hendrik Frans Verbrugghen or Hendrik Frans VerbruggenAlternative first names: Hendrik Fransiscus, Henricus-Franciscus and Frans (Antwerp, 30 April 1654 – Antwerp, 12 December 1724) was a Flemish sculptor and draftsman, who is best known for his ...

. He also made a marble funerary monument for the Van der Noot family in 1746– for the Carmelite Church in Brussels and which is now in the

Rijksmuseum The Rijksmuseum () is the national museum of the Netherlands dedicated to Dutch arts and history and is located in Amsterdam. The museum is located at the Museum Square in the borough of Amsterdam South, close to the Van Gogh Museum, the St ...

. After Prince Charles de Lorraine arrived in Brussels as the governor general of the

Austrian Netherlands The Austrian Netherlands nl, Oostenrijkse Nederlanden; french: Pays-Bas Autrichiens; german: Österreichische Niederlande; la, Belgium Austriacum. was the territory of the Burgundian Circle of the Holy Roman Empire between 1714 and 1797. The p ...

in 1741, Delvaux received many commissions for the decoration of the governor general's residences in Brussels,

Tervuren Tervuren () is a municipality in the province of Flemish Brabant, in Flanders, Belgium. The municipality comprises the villages of Duisburg, Tervuren, Vossem and Moorsel. On January 1, 2006, Tervuren had a total population of 20,636. The total a ...

(near Brussels) and

Mariemont, Belgium Mariemont, also Morlanwelz-Mariemont, is a former royal estate and hunting park in Belgium, created in the 16th century by Mary of Hungary, from whom it took its name. It was reconstructed several times through the centuries before being finally ...

in Hainaut. For the palace in Brussels, which survives partially, he created allegorical reliefs for the façade and the staircase and free-standing statues, including a marble Hercules at the foot of the stairs. Delvaux also worked for other European courts such as that of

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

and for major abbeys like those at Afflighem,

Floreffe Floreffe (; wa, Florefe) is a municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Namur, Belgium. On 1 January 2012 the municipality had 7,883 inhabitants. The total area is 38.89 km2, giving a population density of 203 inhabitants per km2 ...

and

Villers Villers may refer to: Places In France *Villers, Loire, in the Loire ''département'' *Villers, Vosges, in the Vosges ''département'' *Villers-Agron-Aiguizy, in the Aisne ''département'' *Villers-Allerand, in the Marne ''département'' *Viller ...

. In 1734 he settled in Nivelles. In addition to monumental work, Delvaux created many excellent models in terracotta. Many Belgian churches and museums in Brussels and Ghent hold works by him.

Pupils

Among Delvaux's students were the sculptors

Gilles-Lambert Godecharle Gilles-Lambert Godecharle (2 December 1750 in Brussels − 24 February 1835 in Brussels) was a Belgian sculptor, a pupil of Laurent Delvaux, "the only sculptor of international repute in Delvaux's retinue", who became one of two outstanding repr ...

, Pierre-François Le Roy, Laurent Joseph Tamine, Adrien-Joseph Anrion and

Joseph Wilton Joseph Wilton (16 July 1722 – 25 November 1803) was an English sculptor. He was one of the founding members of the Royal Academy in 1768, and the academy's third keeper. His works are particularly numerous memorialising the famous Britons ...

. Delvaux's grandson Édouard Delvaux (1806-1862) was a rural painter and a student of

Henri Van Assche Henri Van Assche (30 August 1774, Brussels - 10 April 1841, Brussels) was a Belgian painter; primarily of landscapes. He was especially well-known for his depictions of waterfalls and water mills. Some of his scenes contain animals painted by Ba ...

(1774-1841).

References

Bibliography

* Alain Jacobs, ''Laurent Delvaux, Gand, 1696 - Nivelles, 1778'', Paris, Athena, 1999 *Alain Jacobs, Addenda au catalogue raisonné de Laurent Delvaux, Annales Société royale d'Archéologie d'Histoire et de Folklore de Nivelles, XXXIII, 2016, pp. 17–59. * M.E. Tralbaut / Twee onbekende beeldhouwwerken van Laurent Delvaux - In: Brabantia 7(1958), nr. 9, pp. 237–253 {{DEFAULTSORT:Delvaux 1696 births 1778 deaths Flemish sculptors (before 1830) Court sculptors Artists from Ghent Belgian expatriates in England