A bouquet of flowers for Frank Van Acker

This artwork was created by Stefaan Depuydt and Livia Canestraro. They also contributed to the new statues in the niches of the town hall . Is this an ode to Frank Van Acker , the then mayor who is regarded as the driving force behind the completion of the new statues in the niches of the town hall in 1988? It was he who cut the Gordian knot and ended half a century of indecision and stalemate: since the renovation of the statue niches in the late 1950s, there had been discussion about the form and style of the new statues. Frank Van Acker organized a competition for sculptors who had to make 48 'medieval' statues . He chose four sculptors: Stefaan Depuydt and his wife Livia Canestraro in collaboration with P. Goetinck and J. Franck. They finally cut the remaining statues after the iconography from before the ancien regime, such as figures from the Old and New Testaments, next to the respective rulers of Flanders, such as counts, countesses, archdukes and emperors, but placed on other consoles, in particular the coats of arms. of the subaltern cities.

Willem Vandenameele