Laurens van der Meulen, also Laureys or Laurent van der Meulen, known in England as Laurence Vander Meulen (1643–1719), was a Flemish sculptor, painter and frame-maker who, after training in his native Mechelen, worked for some time in England.[1] He is best known there for having created the statue of King James II now in Trafalgar Square, together with the Flemish sculptor Peter van Dievoet, while working in the workshop of Grinling Gibbons.[2] He is also known for his wood carvings of frames and medallions.[3]
- ^ Laurent van der Meulen at the Netherlands Institute for Art History
- ^ Horace Walpole, Anecdotes of painting in England: with some account of the principal artists; and incidental notes on other arts; collected by the late Mr. George Vertue; and now digested and published from his original MSS. by Mr. Horace Walpole, London, 1765, vol. III, p. 91 : "Gibbons had several disciples and workmen; [...]. Dievot of Brussels, and Laurens of Mechlin were principal journeymen — Vertue says they modelled and cast the statue I have mentioned in the privy-garden". According to David Green, in Grinling Gibbons, his work as carver and statuary (London, 1964), one Smooke said to Vertue that this statue "was modelled and made by Laurence and Devoot (sic)"; George Vertue, Note Books, ed. Walpole Society, Oxford, 1930–1947, vol. I, p. 82 : "Lawrence. Dyvoet. statuarys", and ibidem IV, 50: "Laurens a statuary of Mechlin ... Dievot a statuary of Brussels both these artists were in England and assisted Mr. Gibbons in statuary works in K. Charles 2d. and K. James 2d. time, they left England in the troubles of the Revolution and retird to their own country".
- ^ Auguste Van Lokeren, Notice sur des cadres sculptés par Laurent Vandermeulen de Malines, Messager des sciences historiques, 1836, pp. 54–61