Jan Claudius de Cock

Jan Claudius de Cock (alternative name spellings and versions: Jan Claudius de Cocq, Jan Claudius de Cocx, Jan Claudius de Kock, Gelaude de Cock, Joannes-Geloude de Kock) (Brussels, 1667 – Antwerp, 1735) was a Flemish painter, sculptor, printmaker and writer. De Cock produced both religious and secular sculpture on a small as well as monumental scale. He is regarded as a contributor to the rise of neoclassicism in later Flemish sculpture.

De Cock was the son of the sculptor Claudius de Cock. He became a pupil of Pieter Verbrugghen in Antwerp in 1682-1683. He gained the title of master of the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke in 1688 or 1689. De Cock decorated the courtyard of the Breda Palace for King William III, stadtholder of the Netherlands in the years from 1692 to 1697 with the assistance of his brother-in-law Melchior Serlippens and seven or eight pupils. In addition, he carved the "William and Mary" ceiling and made a series of busts of the Princes of Orange, including of Prince Philip William and Prince Maurice.

In the late 1690s, he returned to Antwerp and established a large workshop. De Cock worked on a wide range of religious sculptures such as altars, choir stalls, confessionals, pulpits and tombs, as well as secular items such as garden statues and monuments. He also wrote treatises on art and poems.

The 1704 "Negro boy with fortress crown" statue is part of the collection of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, while the marble Bust of a black boy (1705–10) is part of the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum. There is also a bronze Bust of an African Boy in the Walters Museum.

Ayer ("air"; 27 centimetres (11 in) high) and Ignis ("fire"; 26 centimetres (10 in) high) are a pair of terracotta works that may represent Europe and Africa; typical of de Cock's lively style, they were created around 1705.Alpheius and Arethusa and Apollo en Daphne are bas reliefs, both signed 1707.

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