Jan Frans van Geel

Jan Frans van Geel (Mechelen, 18 September 1756 – Antwerp, 20 January 1830) was a Flemish sculptor, draughtsman and art educator. He is mainly known for his church furniture, statues of saints, mythological ensembles and allegorical figures. He was a teacher and director at the Academy of Arts of Mechelen and teacher of sculpture at the Academy of Arts of Antwerp. He was one of the last Flemish sculptors who worked in the Flemish Baroque style in sculpture, which was popular in the Habsburg Netherlands in the 17th and 18th centuries. A second son became a draughtsman and shop owner. A third son Petrus Cornelius became a priest and published botanist who was also an amateur draughtsman and painter. A daughter Maria Catharina married the sculptor and joiner Jan Baptist Judo of Brussels.

His best known work is the pulpit in oak in the St. Andrew's Church in Antwerp. He created it in the period from 1821 to 1825 in collaboration with the sculptor and cabinetmaker Jan Baptist van Hool. The pulpit is a typical example of the naturalistic pulpits that were popular in the Habsburg Netherlands in the Late High Baroque. Naturalistic pulpits were conceived as a single large sculpture in which the different elements of the pulpit (the support, the stairs, the tub and the sounding board) have been integrated and made subordinate to the overall concept of the biblical story represented. The pulpit in the St. Andrew's Church depicts the calling of the first two apostles, the brothers Peter and Andrew. Andrew is also the patron saint of the church. The story is represented by Christ and the two brothers in life-size statutes which are tangible, as are all the props of the story: the fishing boat of the future apostles, the oars, the safety net and their catch. The figures, their equipment and their catch are stunningly realistic amidst a naturalistic stage setting of rocks and plants.

Principal works

Statues of the apostles James the Great, Andrew and Thomas in the Church of Our Lady-across-the-Dyle (in stone). Two statues of Seraphs on the altar of Our Lady of the Seven Woes in the Church of Our Lady-across-the-Dyle (in wood). A statue of Mary Magdalene, with two allegorical statues, crowning the portal of the Saint Rombold Cathedral in Mechelen. Allegory of Time, large statue in wood; collection of Museum Hof van Busleyden, Mecheen. Allegory of Religion; current location unknown. The Holy Trinity, high altar in the Cathedral of Our Lady in Antwerp. Statue of St. Joseph in the wedding chapel of the Cathedral of Our Lady in Antwerp. Angels bearing the image of Joannes Moretus and supporting the portrait of Christophe Plantin in the Cathedral of Our Lady in Antwerp. Saint Jerome and Saint Ambrose, executed in 1824 in white stone, the St. James' Church in Antwerp. The pulpit in the Saint Clement church of Eppegem. The pulpit of the Saint Peter's church of Zemst. Two confessionals in the church of Our Lady in Onze-Lieve-Vrouw-Waver. The Three Divine Virtues: Faith, Hope and Love, in the Saint Amandus church in Geel. The pulpit in the Church of Our Lady of the Assumption in Hofstade (Flemish Brabant), Aalst.

Medallion, bust in marble, on the memorial stone of Andreas-Cornelius Lens; in the gallery of the Academy of Antwerp. Statues of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, in the Church of Our-Lady-in Merchtem. A statue of Saint Ludovicus, in the Saint Louis Church in Leiden, the Netherlands. Statues of Faith, Hope and Charity, on the high altar in the Saint Martin Church in Asse. Sculpture group of Minerva giving life to the statue of love by Pygmalion, 1809, current location unknown. Bust in plaster of Mr. Pycke, governor of the province of Antwerp; Royal Academy of Antwerp. 1819. Sculpture group of Prometheus, current location unknown. De Eendracht (Unity), stone statue in the town hall of Mechelen, 1803.