Hubert van den Eynde

Hubert van den Eynde (October 11, 1593 – September 18, 1662) was a Flemish sculptor. Van den Eynde became a master of the Guild of Saint Luke in 1620.[1] He was the first prominent sculptor of the Van den Eynde family of artists and entrepreneurs. He trained with an unknown master and taught Sebastiaen van den Eynde, son of his brother Cornelis; his other nephew Sebastian de Neve, and his own son Norbert van den Eynde.[2] In the early 17th century, Van den Eynde was among the leading Flemish artists who rejected contrived Mannerist formulae in favour of greater verisimilitude.[3]

Hubert van den Eynde
Hubert van den Eynde, engraving after an original by Anthony van Dyck
Born
Hubert van den Eynde

(1594-11-11)November 11, 1594
Antwerp
DiedSeptember 18, 1662(1662-09-18) (aged 67)
Antwerp
NationalityFlemish
Known forsculpture
MovementFlemish Baroque, High Baroque

Among his surviving works are the monumental Waterpoort in Antwerp;[2][4] a high altar in black and white marble and alabaster (flanked by two paintings by Anthony van Dyck) in the Church of Our Lady of Dendermonde;[5][6][7][1] and the Rubenesque marble statues of Gideon and Joshua in the Antwerp Cathedral.[8][9]

Life and Family

Van den Eynde was born into the Van den Eynde family, an Antwerpian family of artists and entrepreneurs.[2] The Van den Eynde became one of the most prominent families of sculptors in Antwerp in the late 17th century,[10] part of the Quellinus-Verbrugghen-Willemssens-Scheemaeckers-Van den Eynde consortium, which enjoyed virtual monopoly on the sculpture market in Antwerp.[10] The extensive collaboration between the aforesaid families' workshops might in fact be the most important factor to account for the intricate "unity of style and approaches that have made disentangling of hands particularly difficult for art historians."[10]

Hubert van den Eynde was the family's first notable sculptor. Van den Eynde went on to become master of the Guild of Saint Luke in September 1620. He later taught his nephews Sebastian van den Eynde and Sebastian de Neve, as well as his son Norbert.[2]

Van den Eynde married twice. He was first married to Elizabeth Schorkens, who died in September 1623 or 1624. He later married a second time, to Elizabeth van Breen, who gave him one son, Norbert.[11][1][12]

Work

A few years after becoming master of the Guild of Saint Luke (1620), Van den Eynde was commissioned the Waterpoort of Antwerp, a triumphal arch in honor of Charles V, which he completed with the help of Hans van Mildert. The Waterpoort, or Porta Regia, was erected in 1624.[13]

Gideon, left, and Joshua, right, Antwerp Cathedral
Waterpoort, Antwerp

During the 1630s, Van den Eynde received more civic commissions, including sculptural decorations on the Vierscharr and the Beurs of Antwerp.[2]

Van den Eynde's most remarkable work, however, is that which he carried out for Antwerp's churches and the city's Cathedral.

On October 8, 1629, Van den Eynde started working on the high altar of the Church of Our Lady of Dendermonde. The altar was sculpted from black and white marble and alabaster, and completed within a year.[1]

In the early 1630s, Van den Eynde executed a monumental Madonna, which stood near the town hall of Antwerp.[2]

In 1635, he collaborated on the Meirbrugge Crucifixion (now in the Antwerp Cathedral).[2]

The following year, in 1636, Van den Eynde produced a beautiful sandstone sculpture of the Virgin Mary and the Baby Jesus: The Virgin Mary with the Child Jesus. This sculpture used to sit in the Maagdenhuismuseum's garden, but it was later moved inside and replaced with a copy, which can better withstand harsh weather conditions.[14]

Copy of The Virgin Mary with the Child Jesus in the garden of the Maidens' House Museum, Antwerp
The Virgin Mary with the Child Jesus, Maidens' House Museum, Antwerp

In 1640, Van den Eynde completed the high altar in Averbode.

In 1648, he realized the high altar of Steenokkerzeel. In 1653 he produced the principal altar for the church of Duffel.

In the 1650s, Van den Eynde collaborated with Artus Quellinus II, producing a set of sculptures for the Antwerp Cathedral. Of these sculptures, today only two marble statues of Gideon and Joshua remain on the spot.[8] The two statues used to flank a marble of Saint Michael, produced out of a collaboration between Quellinus and Van de Eynde, which stood over the Schermersaltaar. These statues used to stand by the fencers' altar of Saint Michael, which stood against the southern mother pillar of the central nave. Today, the two statues are located in the back of the nave, standing against the buttresses of the towers.[8]

The statues of Gideon and Joshua, as all works by Van den Eynde, show the artist's adherence to the High Baroque style of Rubens, and thence the influence the latter had on Van den Eynde and his pupils.[2]

Van den Eynde was selected by Van Dyck as one of the hundred artists to be included in the former's Iconography, a collection of portraits of Van Dyck's eminent contemporaries created using Van Dyck's etchings and under Van Dyck's supervision (Van den Eynde is one of only three sculptors to appear in this collection, the others being Hans van Mildert and Andries de Nole).[10] This collection was one of the first and most important of its kind.[15]

References
  1. "Hubrecht van den Eynde". RKD. Retrieved August 22, 2020.
  2. "Eynde, van den family". Oxford Art Online. Retrieved August 20, 2020.
  3. "Belgium, Kingdom of". Oxford Art Online. Retrieved August 20, 2020.
  4. "De Waterpoort". Flemish organization for Immovable Heritage. Retrieved August 10, 2020.
  5. "Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekerk (dekenale kerk)". parochiedendermonde.be. Retrieved August 10, 2020.
  6. "Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekerk te DENDERMONDE". belgiumview.com. Retrieved August 10, 2020.
  7. "Parochiekerk Onze-Lieve-Vrouw". inventaris.onroerenderfgoed.be. Retrieved August 10, 2020.
  8. "De altaren van de ambachten en de gilden". TOPA. Retrieved August 10, 2020.
  9. "Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekathedraal Antwerpen" (PDF). Steenmeijer Architecten: 137, 143. 2018.
  10. "Flemish sculpture: Art and manufacture c.1600–1750" (PDF). University College London: 19, 28, 33, 50, 66, 90, 93, 185, 192, 193, 196, 199, 205, 211, 251, 252, 258, 271. 2008.
  11. "Norbertus van den Eynden". University of Amsterdam. Retrieved August 20, 2020.
  12. "Norbertus van den Eynde". RKD. Retrieved August 22, 2020.
  13. "Waterpoort". wga. Retrieved August 20, 2020.
  14. Visitor Guide- Maidens' House Museum (PDF). Antwerp, Belgium: Falke Meyers. 2007. p. 50-51; 64–65.
  15. "Iconography by Anthony Van Dyck". mbrart. Retrieved August 20, 2020.

Sources
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