SCHHEEMAKER, SCHEEMAKERS, SCHUMAKER, or SCHUMACHER, PETER, a Flemish sculptor, who obtained considerable celebrity in England during the Rysbrack and Roubiliac period of sculpture, was born at Antwerp in 1691. He received his early instructions from his father and from a sculptor named Delvaux. In his youth he visited Denmark, and made a pilgrimage to Rome, which he performed on foot. He afterwards resolved to go to England, and performed a great part of that journey likewise on foot. He paid a second visit to Rome, and again settled in Eng-
land in 1735. He lived first in Old Palace Yard, and subsequently in Vine Street, Piccadilly, where he was employed on numerous important works, particularly the monuments of Westminster Abbey. The time of his death is not known, but it must have been subsequent to 1770, the year of his return to Antwerp.
As a sculpture Scheememaker did not stand exceedingly high, although he was capable of rivalling Rysbrack and Roubiliac. He was an excellent designer, and managed well his elaborate costumes; but he rarely or never rose to any of the higher qualities of his art. In Westminster Abbey there are monuments by him to Shakespeare; Dryden; George, Duke of Albemarle; John Sheffield, Duke of Buckingham, &c. He likewise executed numerous busts and other pieces of sculpture.