Apprenticeship on the
Rembrandtplein in
Amsterdam He was born in
Mechelen where he first studied at the local Academy and from 1810 in the studio of Jan Frans van Geel. After studying in Paris for a year, he went to live in Amsterdam in 1820. At the time what is now Belgium and the Netherlands were united in one kingdom under the rule of the Dutch. In 1823 he was the first sculptor to win the Dutch version of the
Dutch Prix de Rome, a prize that was re-instituted by
King William I in 1817. The Prix allowed Royer to study in
Rome where he came under classicist influences. He worked in an area close to the
Spanish Steps where he must have been in contact with
Bertel Thorvaldsen and the studio of
Antonio Canova, who was already deceased but whose workshop with his pupils was still operational. While in Rome, Royers experienced financial difficulties because of the problems of the commission which awarded him the
Dutch Prix de Rome and the bankruptcy of his patron, the Amsterdam stockbroker A.B. Roothaan. Despite these problems, Royer remained very productive, and only found time to travel once, to
Naples. In Rome he sculpted a portrait of his friend, the painter
Cornelis Kruseman. He gained a lot of admiration for his portrait of
Pope Leo XII, whom he portrayed from life.
Return to the Netherlands In 1827 Royer returned from Rome and settled in The Hague, an important artistic centre after the royal family had moved there from Amsterdam. He was soon appointed court sculptor and he made portraits of all members of the royal family in busts of marble. Shortly afterwards he was also appointed director of the Royal Academy of Art in Amsterdam. After moving to Amsterdam in 1837, Royer received many public commissions for statues of leading personalities from Dutch history, such as the statues of
Rembrandt and
Joost van den Vondel in Amsterdam,
William the Silent in The Hague and
Michiel de Ruyter in
Vlissingen. His monumental sculptures of Dutch national heroes gave form to the rising nationalism in the country that had recently recovered its independence after French occupation and wanted to be reminded of its glorious past. Royer was in 1839 one of the founders of the artist society
Arti et Amicitiae in Amsterdam. Royer's work received wide public recognition and he was given a Royal award three times. After his death in Amsterdam in 1868, Royer's widow offered the estate of her husband to the Dutch State. The refusal of the offer was communicated by politician
Thorbecke whose bust Royer had previously made. The estate was subsequently auctioned and an important part of it was bought by intimates and friends of the artist. ==Work==