Sebastiaen van den Eynde

Sebastiaen van den Eynden (Antwerp, baptized 20 June 1624

Life Sebastiaen van den Eynde was born in Antwerp where he was baptized on 20 June 1624. Van den Eynde was born into a renowned family of artists, one of the top families of sculptors in Antwerp. The Van den Eynde were part of the informal Quellinus-Verbrugghen-Willemsens-Scheemaeckers-Van den Eynde association, which turned the sculpture market of Antwerp into one of monopoly.

He was a pupil of Sebastiaen de Neve until 1648. spending some time in Rome. The bust illustrates the profound influence that contemporary Italian sculpture, in which the expatriate Brussels artist François Duquesnoy also played a leading role, exerted on portraiture in Flanders. Van den Eynde likely studied the work of his Italian predecessors during his study trip in Italy.

Van den Eynde produced several sculptured pieces of furniture for Antwerp's churches. These include an altar rail in black basanite with balusters and caryatids in white marble made in 1653 for the St. James' Church, after a design by Huibrecht van den Eynde. Van den Eynde produced the Carpenter's altar for the latter church, which has been dated to shortly after when he became a master in 1661/1662.