Artus Quellinus

Home > People > Literature and the Arts > European Art, 1600 to the Present: Biographies

Quellin (or Quellinus), Artus I (Arnoldus) (1609–68). Flemish sculptor, the most distinguished member of a family of artists. He was born in Antwerp, where he trained with his father, Erasmus I (c.1584–1640). In 1634 he moved to Rome, where he worked in the studio of François Duquesnoy. He was back in Antwerp in 1639, and by 1648 he had moved to Amsterdam, where from c.1650 to 1664 he directed the sumptuous sculptural decoration of the new town hall (now royal palace). His dignified style was singularly appropriate for van Campen's great building, and the decoration forms the most impressive sculptural ensemble of the time in northern Europe. Quellin also produced tomb sculpture and portrait busts. His collaborators at Amsterdam town hall included his cousin, Artus II Quellin (1625–1700), whose independent work was more Baroque in style. The commanding figure of God the Father (1682) adorning the rood screen in Bruges Cathedral is perhaps his finest work. Artus III Quellin (1653–86), usually called Arnold, son of Artus II, settled in England in about 1680. By 1684 he was working with Grinling Gibbons, and the drop in quality of Gibbons's large-scale figure work (not his forte) after Quellin's death indicates that the latter was probably the dominant personality in producing such fine statues as the bronze James II (1686) outside the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square. Quellin's outstanding independent work is the tomb of Thomas Thynne (1682, Westminster Abbey), which features a relief of Thynne's murder in his coach in Pall Mall. Other members of the Quellin family included Artus I's two brothers, Erasmus II (1607–78), a painter who often collaborated with Rubens, and Hubert (1619?–87), an engraver who produced numerous prints after works by his relatives.

Artus Quellinus , 1609–68, Flemish sculptor. His allegorical figures decorating the royal palace of Amsterdam are famous. Quellinus was the outstanding follower of the Rubens tradition in sculpture. In addition to his baroque architectural decorations, he made numerous fine busts and figurines. His cousin Artus Quellin, 1625–1700, worked under his direction at Amsterdam. The younger man soon showed an independent talent in works that he created for the cathedrals of Antwerp and Tournai. The refined elegance of his early art developed into a dramatic baroque illusionism in the figure of God the Father (1682) for the rood screen of the cathedral of Bruges.