Rombout Verhulst

Tomb of Admiral WJ Baron van Gendt, 1673, Utrecht

Tomb in Midwolde

Rombout Verhulst (born January 15, 1624 in Mechelen , † November 27, 1698 in The Hague ) was a Flemish sculptor of the 17th century , who mainly worked in the Netherlands and was valued for his special skill in modeling and material processing. He was not considered to be the great inventor of new compositions or motifs, but thanks to the sensitivity of his portraits as the " aristocrat among the sculptors of Flanders" .

Apprenticeship in Mechelen and beginning in Amsterdam

After an apprenticeship with the sculptors Verstappen and Jacob van Loo in his birthplace, he was found employed in the workshop of Artus Quellinus I in Amsterdam from around 1647 to decorate the local town hall (today's Royal Palace) with sculptures . A statue of Venus (between 1650 and 1657) and two allegorical reliefs of "Silentia" and "Fidelitas" can be attributed to him in any case, since he signed the works.

In the favor of the mighty of the Netherlands

After leaving the workshop - long before the expansion of the city hall was completed - to Verhulst recorded by a whole series of grave monuments, sculptures and dumb from within the United Provinces, which was the expression of national interest in his skills. He owed his orders to a small but very illustrious network of high-ranking personalities. Ever since Quellinus returned to Antwerp in 1665 , Verhulst has been known as "the" sculptor of the United Seven Provinces. His works soon adorned the churches in Amsterdam ( Oude Kerk , tomb of Admiral Isaac Sweers and the epitaph for Vice-Admiral Willem van der Zaan), Delft , Katwijk , Leiden (Pieterskerk, tombstone of Johan Polyander van Kerchoven, 1663) and Utrecht (cathedral, tomb of WJ Baron van Gendt, 1673), and finally also in the cities around Groningen and in Zeeland (see bust of Jacob van Reygersberg , 1671, Getty Museum)

Highlight: De Ruyters tomb

The beginning of this series can be seen in the Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam and the Oude Kerk in Delft. His artistic peak experienced Verhulst with the highly acclaimed grave monument of national hero Admiral Michiel de Ruyter in the aforementioned Nieuwe Kerk 1681. Where before the Reformation of the high altar had stood, designed Verhulst an impressive grave monument over the grave vault of the naval hero, who already in 1676 to died of his injuries in the Battle of Messina . Verhulst had cleverly depicted the death mask in the terracotta model in such a naturalistic way that you could even see a wart , and yet refined it in an idealized way so that the Dutch could interpret all of de Ruyter's strengths into it. The fact that de Ruyter himself preferred to be buried in the Oude Kerk is one of the usual historical errors that seldom takes the deceased's will into account.

Another Verhulst plant is located in the Nieuwe Kerk. In the north aisle is the grave monument for the commander Johann van Galen, who died in the battle of Livorno in 1653 . Here Artus Quellinus had drafted the concept, while Verhulst and Wilhelm de Keyser were entrusted with the execution.

literature

• Marinus van Notten: Rombout Verhulst, Beeldhouwer, 1624–1698. Een Overzicht Zijner Werken. The Hague 1907

Web links

Commons : Rombout Verhulst  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Bust of Jacob van Reygersberg, Getty Museum
• Terracotta model de Ruyter's death mask in large format (Java)
• Verhulstwerke in the Webgallery of Art