List of sculptors from the Dutch Golden Age
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Dutch 17th-century achievements in sculpture are less prominent than in painting and architecture, and fewer examples were created than in neighbouring countries. One reason for this was their absence in the interiors of Protestant churches; after all, objection to Roman Catholic veneration of statues had been one of the contentious points of the Reformation. Another was the comparatively small class of nobles. Sculptures were commissioned for government buildings, private buildings (often adorning housefronts) and exteriors of churches. There was also a clientele for grave monuments and portrait busts.
Hendrick de Keyser, who was active at the dawn of the Golden Age, is one of the few prominent home-grown sculptors. In the 1650s and 1660s, the Flemish sculptor Artus I Quellinus, along with his family and followers like Rombout Verhulst, were responsible for the classicizing decorations for the Amsterdam city hall (now the Royal Palace, Amsterdam). This remains the major monument of Dutch Golden Age sculpture.
Sculpture
Dutch sculptors of the 17th century were
- Hendrick de Keyser (1565-1621). De Keyser was also an architect (see above). He created the Mausoleum for William of Orange in the Nieuwe Kerk (English: New Church) in Delft (1614). All ruling descendants of Willem of Orange and their kin have been interred here to this date. De Keyser also created the statue of Erasmus in Rotterdam (1618)
- Artus I Quellinus (1609-1668), Artus II Quellinus (his nephew) (1625-1700) and Rombout Verhulst (1625-1696), all sculpturists from the southern Low Countries, were most prominent among the sculpturists that decorated the townhall, now known as Dam Palace (1648-1655).