A large part of the terracotta statues collection that belonged to Charles Van Herck is currently exhibited in a specially fitted out room for it in the ancient art collection of the Bonnefanten Museum in Maastricht. The Antwerp Royal Museum of Fine Arts, to which it has been entrusted, is currently closed for renovation, so it was necessary to find another location where this superb collection could be accessible to the general public.

The choice of the Bonnefanten Museum is not surprising, since the Van Herck Collection, and in particular the 17th and 18th century terracotta works, form a logical prolongation to the ancient art section of the Dutch museum, which ends at the 16th century. The museum has also set out to show workshop practices during the period and the fifty or so terracotta works chosen from the Van Herck Collection fit perfectly with this idea. Using bozetti (a three-dimensional sketch for a work) and numerous modelli (the more finished and detailed versions that serve as a basis for the final sculpture), the museum explains to visitors the genesis and material history of the work of art, including the artist’s creative process.

The collection of Charles Van Herck (1884 – 1955), a knowledgeable Antwerp art amateur and antique dealer, comprises over 700 drawings and around a hundred terracotta works from the 16th to the 19th century. Van Herck collected a remarkable ensemble of works by leading sculptors including Artus Quellinus, Jérôme Duquesnoy, Walter Pompe and Michael Rysbrack. The King Baudouin Foundation acquired this exceptional collection in 1996, to prevent it from being dispersed. The drawings were entrusted to the Plaintin-Moretus Museum in Antwerp and the terracotta works to the Fine Arts Museum.

Prince Lorenz, Honorary President of the Heritage Fund, which manages this collection, visited the Bonnefanten Museum on 12 March 2013 to admire how well the sculptures have been displayed.