Sacred Heart in Rijsbergen

SCULPTURE GROUP on pedestal representing the Sacred Heart of Jesus with a farmer and farmer's wife with child dating from 1936 and 1940.

The sculpture group, made in the studio of A. de Beule in Ghent, is located on St. Bavostraat in the center of the village in a park-like setting, at the site where until 1919 the late medieval tower of the old St. Bavo Church stood.

Description.

The three bronze statues were created by sculptor Aloys de Beule from Ghent, commissioned by the R.K. church council St. Bavo. The Sacred Heart statue was placed in 1936, the farmer and farmer's wife with child in 1940. The statues stand on a rocky formation made of imitation stone by Frans Janssens from Westmeerbeek. The Sacred Heart statue, standing on the highest rock block, forms the focal point of the group and extends its hands in blessing toward the farmer on the left in work attire with a shovel and the kneeling farmer's wife on the right with a child in her arms.

Appreciation.

The sculpture group is of general importance. The whole has cultural historical value as a distinctive expression of a social and spiritual development, particularly the development of the Catholic devotional culture, and is also important for the typological development of the Sacred Heart monument. It has art historical significance as an example of the work of the De Beule studio and is also important for the technical development of casting bronze sculptures. It has been well preserved and is typologically rare.

Wim Blankers