Mathieu Kessels was a sculptor born on May 20, 1784, in Maastricht, Netherlands. He learned goldsmithing in Venlo and Paris after his father's death and then went to Hamburg to be with his architect brother. He then traveled to St. Petersburg in 1806 to study sculpture under Joseph Camberlain for almost eight years. Upon his return, King William granted him a pension payment, which ensured his financial stability.
Kessels briefly attended Anne-Louis Girodet-Trioson's school in Paris and then moved to Rome, where he worked in Thorvaldsen's studio producing bas-reliefs. In 1819, he won a prize offered by Canova for his painting of St. Sebastian. He was the younger brother of Heinrich Johann Kessels, a significant chronometer and precision watchmaker from Altona. Mathieu Kessels died on March 3, 1836, in Rome.