Background
He was born in Antwerp, the son of January Baptiste Nollekens, a painter who practised for a time in England, but eventually settled in France.
He was born in Antwerp, the son of January Baptiste Nollekens, a painter who practised for a time in England, but eventually settled in France.
He perhaps studied under Antoine Watteau, whose style and choice of subject he to some extent imitated. And did study for a time under Giovanni Paolo Panini.
Nollekens went to England in 1733. On 21 January 1748, he died at his house in Dean Street, Soho, and was buried at Paddington. According to a contemporary story of Thomas Banks, he was a miser, or had a pathological fear of being robbed of property.
Nollekens married Mary Anne Le Sacq or Lesack, by whom he had five children: John Joseph, Joseph, Maria Joanna Sophia, Jacobus, and Thomas Charles.
Of them, only Joseph Nollekens remained in England becoming one of the nation"s most famous sculptors.