Bartholomeus Eggers was born in
Antwerp, the son of Bernaert Eggers, a gardener, and Elisabeth van Ouwenhuysen (or Oudenhuysen). He had a brother called Jacob (or Jacobus) who also became a sculptor but died relatively young. In the guild year 1646–1647, he was registered at the Antwerp
Guild of Saint Luke studying sculpture as a pupil of
Pieter Verbrugghen I. The Guild register notes that he was a poor pupil who did not pay his Guild dues but was registered for the record. His master Verbrugghen was the founder of an important sculpture workshop in Antwerp and the brother-in-law of the leading Antwerp sculptor
Artus Quellinus the Elder. After studying in Italy where he had worked in the workshop of his compatriot
François Duquesnoy, Quellinus had returned to Antwerp in 1640. He had brought with him a new vision of the role of the sculptor. The sculptor was no longer to be an ornamentalist but a creator of a total artwork in which architectural components were replaced by sculptures. He saw the church furniture that he was commissioned to make as an occasion for creating large-scale compositions, incorporated into the church interior. From 1650 onwards, Quellinus worked for fifteen years on the new
city hall in Amsterdam together with the lead architect
Jacob van Campen. Now called the Royal Palace on the
Dam, this construction project, and in particular the marble decorations that Quellinus and his workshop produced, became an example for other buildings in Amsterdam. Quellinus invited many sculptors from his native Antwerp to assist him in the realisation of this project, many of whom such as his cousin
Artus Quellinus II,
Rombout Verhulst and
Gabriël Grupello would become leading sculptors in their own right. Eggers was also one of the sculptors who left Antwerp to work in Amsterdam some time between 1650 and 1654 to participate in this large-scale project. His exact contributions cannot be identified as this was a collaborative effort. The sculptural decorations in the Amsterdam city hall established the international reputation of Quellinus and his workshop and would lead to many more foreign commissions for the Quellinus workshop including in Germany, Denmark and England. This helped further spread the Flemish Baroque idiom in Europe. Eggers remained in Quellinus' workshop until 1663, the year in which he registered as a master in the Amsterdam Guild of Saint Luke and started to work as an independent master. The same year he was able to secure an important commission from
Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg, possibly at the recommendation of
John Maurice, Prince of Nassau-Siegen who resided in The Hague and was likely already one of his patrons. The bust was removed from the Mauritshuis in 2017 amidst controversy over Holland's colonial history and Prince John Maurice's role in the slave trade. The Mauritshuis museum has denied that the removal had anything to do with the controversy and has stated that the decision was taken on the grounds that the object was solely a copy made of plastic and the museum was unable to offer the necessary historical context for it in the foyer of the Mauritshuis where it was exhibited. Another important commission for Eggers was that for the monument of
Jacob van Wassenaer Obdam, admiral of the Dutch fleet, who was killed in 1665 in the
Battle of Lowestoft against the English. Eggers beat out the sculptor Rombout Verhulst in a competition for the commission written out by the States General of the Dutch Republic. Eggers likely moved to The Hague to complete the monument that was created for the
St James Church in The Hague as he was registered as a master of the Guild of Saint Luke of the Hague in 1665. The monument was completed in 1667. In the years 1668 and 1669 Eggers worked on a relief showing people weighing cheese that was made for the facade of the Waag (
weigh-house) in
Gouda. It is believed he died before 23 February 1692, probably in Amsterdam. ==Works==