Lodewijk Willemsens

Lodewijk Willemsens or Ludovicus Willemsens (1630–1702) was a Flemish sculptor from Antwerp. His works comprise mostly sculptured church furniture, and to a lesser extent, individual sculptures, both portrait busts as well as statues of saints for churches. From his father's first marriage with Elisabetha de Bruichel he had a half-brother, the painter Abraham Willemsens (1614 - 1672). He had also two sisters and a brother called Anton or Anthonis who trained as a painter and was registered as a master in the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke in the guild year 1649–1650.

It is generally believed that he was a pupil of Artus Quellinus the Elder although there is no documentary evidence proving such an apprenticeship. Quellinus was the leading Flemish sculptor whose Baroque style had a major influence on the development of sculpture in Northern Europe. Quellinus worked for a long time in Amsterdam, where he supervised the sculptural decorations program for the new city hall.

Lodewijk is thought to have helped Quellinus in Amsterdam as a journeyman in his service and this is likely why he delayed his admission as a master in the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke. Quellinus may have assisted him also in obtaining commissions including those for several altars for the Paderborn Cathedral which he completed between 1655 and 1661.

He died in Antwerp where he was buried on 12 October 1702 in the Saint George ' s Church next to his wife. This is evidenced in the symbolic personifications of Catholic doctrine decorating the pulpit of the Church of St James in Antwerp, and in the figures of saints in the choir stalls of the former Cistercian Abbey of St. Bernard in Hemiksem.

He was known in his time for his ability to sculpt small children, in particular in marble. His skill in this regard was described as being equal to that of the Flemish sculptor François Duquesnoy who was famous for his children's figures.

Willemsens collaborated with several major sculptors in Antwerp. He was initially a frequent collaborator of his presumed master Artus Quellinus the Elder, contributing in particular to the Amsterdam new City Hall decorations. In the second half of the 17th century a few large sculpture workshops in Antwerp came to dominate the market. They were the workshops of the families Quellinus, van den Eynde, Kerricx, Scheemaeckers and Verbrugghen with whom Willemsens also formed an informal partnership. The close links between these Antwerp workshops resulted in a very similar style of late Baroque sculpture, which has made it often difficult to identify which artist or workshop produced a particular work.

Willemsens collaborated between 1683 and 1688 with Norbert van den Eynde on an altarpiece dedicated to St Catherine for the oudekleerkopers guild in the cathedral of Antwerp. In 1690, he collaborated with Pieter Verbrugghen the Younger on two statues for the 1678 altarpiece of the Venerabelkapel in the St. James' Church in Antwerp.

His best known work is probably the bust of Juan Domingo de Zuñiga y Fonseca the Governor of the Habsburg Netherlands (exhibited at the Museum aan de Stroom in Antwerp but part of the collection of the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp). This bust was commissioned by the Guild of Saint Luke as a gift to the governor for his support in an eighteen-year long litigation between the Guild and the local guild of crossbowmen.