BOSSUIT, Francis van

(b. 1635 Bruxelles, d. 1692 Amsterdam)

Flemish sculptor, trained as a sculptor in Antwerp and Brussels. Later, around 1655, he travelled to Italy, where he worked in a number of cities. There Van Bossuit studied Classical art and the work of his Italian contemporaries. In Florence he worked with Balthazar Permoser at the Academy, in Rome he made numerous copies of antique statues and contacted the Bentvueghels group of Netherlandish artists.

Around 1685 he returned to the Low Countries and settled in Amsterdam. Van Bossuit made numerous small reliefs. Prints after his designs were often used by artists in the eighteenth century as models. He achiecved great fame in Amsterdam for his ivory reliefs. Engravings of his work were published in the ‘Cabinet de l’art de sculpture par le fameux sculpteur Francis van Bossuit’ in Amsterdam in 1727 by Mattys Pool.

Judith with the Head of Holofernes

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Mars

Originally this statue had a pendant, now lost, representing Venus. This is the largest and only surviving free-standing ivory by Francis van Bossuit. This statue was published as a work by Van Bossuit as early as 1727 in Matthys Pool’s ‘Beeld-snyders Kunst-kabinet’. This work, an early example of an art book in several languages, is devoted entirely to the work of the ivory carver. It contains more than 100 engravings reproducing a considerable part of Van Bossuit’s oeuvre. The prints, made after the drawings by Barent Graat, show the master’s ivory, wooden, and terracotta statues from different angles.

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Venus and Adonis

Francis van Bossuit’s oeuvre consists of mostly small ivory reliefs carved and composed with great virtuosity such as the Venus and Adonis.

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