Huibrecht van den Eynde

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Huibrecht van den Eynde was a Flemish sculptor from Antwerp who lived in the early 17th century and died in 1662. He is best known for religious sculptures and church furniture, though he also did some secular work. He helped his family become one of Antwerp’s leading sculptor clans and played a key role in moving from early Baroque to High Baroque, with a later style that favored movement and dramatic drapery.

Family and career
- Born in Antwerp in the 1590s, Huibrecht founded the van den Eynde workshop, a major center for sculpture that worked closely with other big Antwerp families.
- He trained with an unknown master and became a master in the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke in 1620. He joined the Sodality of the Unmarried Men of Age in 1622 and was also a member of the guild of masons.
- He taught relatives and pupils, including his cousin Sebastiaen van den Eynde, his nephew Sebastiaen de Neve, his son Norbertus, and others such as Pauwels Creuls, Peeter Jansen, Peeter Creun, and Jacques Jehan.

Notable works and projects
- Waterpoort (Porta Regia) in Antwerp, completed in 1624 in collaboration with Hans van Mildert. The design is attributed to Rubens, and the gate has been moved several times.
- High altar for the Church of Our Lady of Dendermonde, begun in 1629 and completed within a year; made of black and white marble and alabaster.
- Early to mid-1630s works include a monumental Virgin near Antwerp City Hall, the Meirbrugge Crucifixion (now in Antwerp Cathedral), and a sandstone Virgin with Child (1636) that was later moved and reinstalled.
- Altar works for Averbode Abbey (1640), a side altar for St. Rumbold Church in Steenokkerzeel (1648), and a 1653 high altar for Onze-Lieve-Vrouw van de Goede Wil in Duffel (with his son Norbertus).
- In the 1650s he collaborated with Artus Quellinus II on sculptures for Antwerp Cathedral; among these, the marble statues of Gideon and Joshua remain in the cathedral today, once flanking Saint Michael the fencer’s altar.

Legacy
- Huibrecht van den Eynde was highly respected in his time, even earning inclusion in Anthony van Dyck’s Iconography as one of only three sculptors represented.
- His work shows a shift from the early Baroque toward the High Baroque, with a late style marked by movement and dramatic drapery.