Karel Hendrik Geerts

Karel Hendrik Geerts was a Belgian neo-Gothic sculptor who mainly focused on wood carving.

Life and work

Karel Geerts was educated at the [Royal Royal Academy of Fine Arts (Antwerp)|Academy of Fine Arts (Antwerp)|Academy] in Antwerp under the direction of JB Van Hool and . He married Ludovica Maria Ruelens. In 1835 he became a teacher at the Academy of Leuven and remained so until his death.
From 1842 he carried on activities in a sculpture studio in the Savoyestraat in Leuven. It was there that he developed a school of religious sculpture with about sixty pupils. A few years later, in 1846, he bought a wing of the former in the same street, which had been confiscated by the French occupier in 1797. The college chapel had already been demolished.
In the year of his death, Geerts had his building in the Savoyestraat enlarged. He had a side building constructed at the back in the direction of the Nieuwstraat, which is nowadays called the Leopold Vanderkelenstraat. After Geerts' death in 1855, his widow sold the premises of the Savoy College in May 1858 to the future mayor of Leuven Leopold Vander Kelen and his wife Maria Mertens.
The buildings were sold for a sum of 30,000 Belgian Francs. In time they were furnished as the Leopold Vander Kelenmuseum.
Because of his work, Geerts was appointed Knight in the Order of the Netherlands Lion and Knight in the Order of Leopold. In Borgerhout Karel Geertsstraat was named after him.