THIENEN, Renier van - b. 1465 Thienen, d. 1498 Brussel

Flemish sculptor, part of a family of sculptors. His first recorded commission was for a bronze lectern in the form of a pelican for the church of St James, Coudenbourg, in Brussels in 1465. The lost work probably resembled the bronze lectern sometimes attributed to van Thienen in the church of St Germain, Tirlemont. In 1468 van Thienen provided copper buttons for the coach of the Duchess of Burgundy, and three years later he delivered six bronze candlesticks (destroyed) for the Chambre de Comptes of Brussels. He was a respected Brussels citizen and held several civic offices in 1477-91.

In 1479-83 van Thienen was working on a copper balustrade, the first of several works (all now lost) for the church of St Leonard, Zoutleeuw. In 1481-82 he was commissioned to make bronze lighting equipment for the chapel of St Leonard’s which was to resemble that in Ste Gudule, Brussels, for which he was presumably also responsible. A small statue of St Leonard from one of the candlesticks survives in a private collection.

Figures from the Tomb of Isabella of Bourbon

Ten funerary statuettes in bronze are exhibited in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, which were commissioned by Mary of Burgundy in 1476 and executed by the sculptor Renier van Thienen and the brass founder Jacques de G�rines. These figures represent a direct revival of the Dijon tomb of Philip the Bold by Sluter with its display of courtly mourners and Carthusian pleaurants in procession along the base.