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Geel, Jan Frans [Jean-François] van
(b Mechelen, 18 Sept 1756; d Antwerp, 24 Jan 1830). Flemish sculptor. His work was essentially part of the late Flemish Baroque tradition; yet he was aware of the emerging Neo-classical movement, as is revealed by certain details in his religious works and, above all, by the spirit of his secular commissions. He was a pupil first of the painter Guillaume Herryns and then of the sculptor Pierre Valckx. In 1784 van Geel was appointed an assistant teacher at the academy of art in Mechelen and subsequently devoted himself consistently to teaching, first in Mechelen and then at the Académie in Antwerp. Among his pupils were Jean-Baptiste de Bay (1802–62), Guillaume Geefs, Lodewijk Royer, Joseph Tuerlinckx (1809–73) and his own son Jan Lodewijk van Geel (b Mechelen, 28 Sept 1787; d Brussels, 10 April 1852), also a sculptor. Jan Frans’s first important commission was for statues (1780–90) of St James, St Andrew and St Thomas and the St Blaise altar for the church of Onze-Lieve-Vrouw-over-de-Dijle in Mechelen (in situ). In 1810 he successfully adapted the pulpit made in 1723 by Michiel van de Voort (i) for the Jesuit church at Leliëndael for Mechelen Cathedral, and, with the collaboration of van de Voort, executed the mausoleum of Cardinal Thomas-Philippe of Alsace in the same church. In 1820 Jan Frans executed the pulpit in the church at Hofstade, and the following year, with his fellow artist Jan Baptist van Hool (1769–1837), he designed the pulpit in the church of St Andries in Antwerp. In 1824 van Geel produced statues of St Jerome and St Andrew for the St Jacobskerk in Antwerp. He also produced the pulpit in the church at Eppegem (destr.) and that of Keerbergen, where he also carved the stalls. The confessionals in the church of Onze-Lieve-Vrouw at Wavre are by him, as are those in the church at Gheel, where he also worked on some of the panelling and produced statues of the Theological Virtues. The pulpit and six medallions (destr.) in the church of St Pieter at Zemst were also by van Geel. A number of preparatory terracotta modelli and a signed drawing of a pulpit by van Geel have been preserved (Brussels, Mus. A. Anc.), as have several series of his designs for religious projects (Antwerp, Mus. Vleeshuis, and Mechelen, Stadsmus. Hof van Busleyden). Among his secular works are Time Stealing Away Youth (Brussels, Mus. A. Anc.); the River Scheldt (Antwerp, Mus. S. Kst) and Law (Mechelen, Stadsmus. Hof van Busleyden); the latter is distinctly Neo-classical in style.
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