Jerôme Duquesnoy the Younger

Dead Christ for the St. Egidius Church, Groot-Bijgaarden, destroyed by a V-2 rocket in 1945 Jérôme Duquesnoy the Younger (; baptized 8 May 1602 – 28 September 1654), or Hieronymus Duquesnoy the Younger , was a Flemish architect and sculptor who was particularly accomplished in portraits. He played an important role in the introduction of the Baroque style in Northern European sculpture.

Life

Training He was born in Brussels, the son of , court sculptor to Archduke Albert and Archduchess Isabella who jointly ruled the Spanish Netherlands. His father is now mainly known as the creator of the Manneken Pis fountain in Brussels (1619). He trained in his father's workshop along with his older brother François. François went to work in Rome where he became rather successful.

Abroad

Jérôme travelled to join his older brother in Rome in 1621. The assumption has been that the brothers had a falling out and split ways after which Jerôme went to work primarily in Spain, where he received court commissions, and Portugal.

Return to Flanders Instead of returning to Rome, Jérôme travelled on to his hometown Brussels where he soon received many commissions. He claimed the chests with art designs and models that had belonged to his brother and that had been sent on to Brussels.

In 1644 he completed a sculpture of Saint Thomas destined for the Church of St. Michael and St. Gudula (now Brussels' cathedral) and paid for by the Council of Brabant. He also became an assistant of the court architect and painter Jacob Franquart. In 1646 he drew the design for the Chapel of Our Lady of Deliverance in the Church of St. Michael and St. Gudula and directed its construction.

Duquesnoy completed an additional three sculptures of apostles for the Church of St. Michael and St. Gudula in 1646. He also made the images of the apostles Philip and Matthew for the Chapel Church in Brussels. When Jacob Franquart died in 1651, Duquesnoy succeeded to his position at the Brussels court as "architecte, statuaire et sculpteur de la Cour" (Court architect, statue maker and sculptor). In that capacity Duquesnoy completed several portraits of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria, then governor of the Spanish Netherlands (now in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna). It is likely that the design of the tomb monument itself, which was made almost a decade later, was by Jérôme's own hand. The monument is placed in an architectural frame of black and white marble and depicts Mary and Christ looking down on the effigy of the Bishop reclining on a sarcophagus. The portrait of the Bishop in the monument is particularly fine although some have compared it unfavourably with the earlier bust of the Bishop.