¹Leopold Blanchaert was born in Melle, near Gent in 1832, the son of Leo Blanchaert (1799 - 1881) an artistic cabinet maker who worked extensively in the church of Mariakerke and elsewhere. Leopold died in 1913 in St.Dennijs-Westrem after a highly successful career as a sculptor who worked in the NeoGothic style. As a youth he studied 'Humanities' at the St.Barbara College in Gent, specializing in Latin. This is perhaps what influenced his subsequent commitment to NeoGothic art. Starting in about 1859 he worked regularly with J-B Bethune (1835 - 1898) who inspired him to move his studio from Heusden to Maaltebrugge as part of an art colony that was establishing itself there around the castle of the industrialist Joseph de Hemptinne. This led Leopold to accept orphans from the St. Joseph Institute operated on his grounds by Hemptinne to become his apprentices. He was by temperament enthusiastic, a confirmed militant Catholic and a worker. Encouraged by Bethune, Leopold traveled to France, Germany and Holland, returning with notes and sketches. He was 30 year-old before he started to produce.
  Leopold together with his brother Leonard and brother-in-law Adriaan Bressers were involved in executing the various projects of J-B Bethune including churches, the chapel of the abbey at Maredsous and the Great Hall of the Lopem Castle. Leopold was elected to the Guilds of St. Lucas, St. Joseph and St. Thomas. His works appeared in various churches, abbeys and private homes throughout Belgium, and in Essen (Germany), London and the Congo.
Leopold remained unmarried and dedicated himself to sculpture. He was doubtless the more gifted than his brother Leonard. His obituary written by Baron Pierre Verhaegen, described him as "a great artist, a perfect Christian, a modest but excellent continuing follower of the medieval tradition. His life remains a a living example of the way a Christian artist understood his mission here on earth."
According to Verhaegen, Leopold's works showed three major characteristics: The first was a remarkable consistency: from his very first works he followed the Neogothic style and developed it to perfection. The second characteristic was his craft became increasing refined: his main concern was to express beauty, grace and nobility. The third characteristic of his work was a deeply religious feeling. Leopold took from the Middle ages not only his mode of expression but its Christian spirit: He considered his art the mission an apostle. Leopold was a religious person and a few times a day he and his employees and student stopped work a few times each day to pray and said the rosary. He had broad shoulders, a somewhat large head. His face was beardless and pink; his look sparkled with enthusiasm tempered with a benign kindness.

¹ Adapted from various sources including:- J. De Maeyer (Ed) "The Saint Lucas School and the Neogothic 1862-1914", KADOC Study 15, Leuven 1988; Patrick Devose and Martine Pieteraerens "The Holy Cross Church at Heusden"; Pierre Verhaegen "Leopold Blanchaert" in the Bulletin of the Guild of Saint Thomas and Saint-Jean, Part 25, 1913.