BOECKSTUYNS, Jan Frans

Flemish sculptor and architect. He was a pupil of Lucas Faydherbe, with whom he came under the influence of the ideas of Rubens. Boeckstuyns became Master in the Mechelen St Luke Guild in 1680.

In 1690 worked together with the Mechelen sculptors Frans Langhemans (1661-1720) and Laurens van der Meulen (1645-1719) on the construction of the high altar of the Onze-Lieve-Vrouw-over-de-Dijlekerk. Works by Boeckstuyns in the Beguinage Church include a portal at the northern entrance (1700), a façade wall and a wooden confessional.

Jan Frans Boeckstuyns probably contributed to the wooden pulpit in the Sint-Rombouts cathedral executed by Michiel van der Voort I. The wooden tabernacle for the altar of the Blessed Sacrament (1704) would also be from Boeckstuyns’s hand.

In the Onze-Lieve-Vrouw van Hanswijkkerk, Boeckstuyns’s oeuvre comprises three wooden confessionals with allegorical figures (1690) and a wooden roof façade (1712) for an altar previously made by Lucas Faydherbe. There are also two confessional seats with the figures of the Church Fathers Jerome and Gregory (1729), entirely in the Baroque style of his master. The other two figures, Ambrose and Augustin, are by Lucas Faydherbe.

In 1723 Jan Frans Boeckstuyns made a wooden pulpit with a picture of Saint Norbert in front of the chapel of Leliëndael. He produced a number of smaller works, such as a crucifix in palm wood on view at the Hof Van Busleyden, fine carvings that can be compared to what Lucas Faydherbe could do with ivory, and a terracotta cupid, also on display at the Hof van Busleyden.

The plan by Jan Frans Boeckstuyns for a wall, decorated with a figure of St Sebastian, for the headquarters of the Mechelen Schuttersgilde, reflected his craftsmanship as an architect.

He was the teacher of Theodoor Verhaegen.