Willem Ignatius Kerricx
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Willem Ignatius Kerricx[1] (Antwerp, baptized on 22 April 1682 – Antwerp, 4 January 1745) was a Flemish sculptor, painter, draftsman, architect, engineer, playwright and author active in Antwerp in the first half of the 18th century.[2] His sculptural works comprise mostly sculptured church furniture, individual sculptures, mainly statues of saints for churches and a few funerary monuments. His sculptural style is typical for the late Flemish Baroque while he shows a preference for Classicism in his architectural projects. He took over the large family sculpture workshop in Antwerp.[3] As a painter he created both history paintings for churches and still lifes. He was also employed as an architect and engineer, mainly on reconstruction projects.[4] In his youth, he composed a number of comedies and tragedies for the Antwerp theatre.[5]
Kerricx was born in Antwerp as the eldest son of the sculptor Willem Kerricx and the poet Barbara Ogier, the daughter of the Antwerp playwright Willem Ogier.[5] He was baptized in the St Walburga Church of Antwerp on 22 April 1682.[6] His father operated a large sculpture workshop in Antwerp.[7] His great-grandfather, also called Willem Ignatius, was a sculptor as was his great-uncle Jan Kerricx. Of his two younger siblings, his sister Catharina Clara became a painter and aquarellist.[8]
He obtained his artistic training in his father's workshop.[9] Some art historical literature states that he studied painting with Godfried Maes or in the workshop of Godfried Maes, the prominent history painter and dean of the Guild, although he was never formally registered as a pupil of this master in the records of the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke.[2][4][10] In his early years, Kerricx displayed, like his parents, an interest in the theatre. Already on 8 April 1700, at only 18 years of age, he was elected the 'factor' (chief playwright and stage director) of the local chamber of rhetoric de Olijftak (Olive Branch). The chamber of rhetoric organised the staging of plays and other performances. Both his mother and grandfather played important roles in the Olijftak. Under his motto "Konst wint jonst" (Art wins favour) he wrote a number of plays until the year 1705.[5] He was admitted to the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke as a master painter and sculptor in the guild year 1703–1704. He did not need to pay the admission in return for services rendered.[6] From then on he concentrated on his busy work as a sculptor, architect and painter and abandoned his writing career.[5]
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On 22 July 1709 he married in Antwerp Joanna Maria van Hengsthoven (Hencxthoven), a daughter of the medical doctor Franciscus Gommaris van Hengsthoven. The couple had 7 children, of whom only one daughter survived.[2] He was dean of the Guild of St. Luke in the guild years 1718–1719 and 1723–1724.[6]
He received numerous commissions from local religious institutions. In 1713 he and Michiel van der Voort the Elder received the commission to make confessionals for the Saint Bernard's Abbey in Hemiksem. These were moved to Antwerp Cathedral after the Abbey was confiscated during the French occupation.[11] Around 1718, he sculpted a new pulpit for the Church of Our Lady-across-the-Dyle (Onze-Lieve-Vrouw over de Dijlekerk) in Mechelen.[12] In 1724 he received the commission to design the new city hall of Diest.[13] From 1725 to 1732 he worked as an architect, sculptor and painter on the decorations for the Tongerlo Abbey, in particular the abbot's residence.[4] In 1629 he created the high altar for the St. Bernard Abbey in Hemiksem (now in the St. Andrew's Church, Antwerp).[14] He worked also on the design and implementation of the restoration and stabilisation of the Saint Walburga Church in Antwerp (demolished during the French occupation). Around 1744 he created two altars in the church of the Capuchins in Dendermonde.[9]
Willem Ignatius Kerricx operated a busy workshop in Antwerp as from 1704 onwards, he employed various apprentices who came to study painting as well as sculpture with him. They included Jacobus de Hollander (1704), Jacobus van Innoville, Joannes Baptista Kints (1711) and Egidius van den Busdom (1713).[6]
In 1744 he was put in charge of the decoration project on the occasion of the Joyous Entry into Antwerp of the new governor of the Spanish Netherlands Prince Charles of Lorraine and the Archduchess. He spent all his energy on this project. He contracted pneumonia as a result of overexerting himself during the creation of the triumphal arches for the celebration. He died in Antwerp on 4 January 1745 not long after the festivities had ended. He was buried on 7 January 1745 in the St. Paul's Church in Antwerp, where his father, mother, wife and in-laws were also buried.[2][9]
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