Gerard van Opstal or Gérard van Opstal, was a Flemish Baroque sculptor mainly active in Paris.
Background
He was born in 1594 or 1597 in Brussels or Antwerp as the son of Anton van Opstal. When his father-in-law died, he was contracted by the local city magistrates to complete the sculpture of Christ for the Calvary group on the Falconplein (Falcon square) in Antwerp.
Career
He was trained around 1630 by Niklaas Diodone. He became master in the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke in 1635 and had a registered pupil there in 1641. He was a son-in-law of the Antwerp sculptor Johannes van Mildert.
He moved to Paris before 1648, presumably at the explicit invitation of Cardinal Richelieu.
Here he became one of the founders of France"s Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture. Van Opstal was awarded the title "sculpteur des batiments du roi" (Sculptor of the king"s buildings) in 1651.
He is particularly important for having brought a legal case in 1667 against the widow of a patron, Duchemin, intendant to Mademoiselle d"Orléans, for nonpayment of a commission dating from 1658. This case consisted of an effort to argue for sculpture as a liberal rather than mechanical trade.
In 1667 Van Opstal also delivered a conférence at the Académie royale on the "Laocöon".
Membership
Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke. Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture.