[2] When he was nineteen years old he was accepted as an apprentice in the workshop of Peter Paul Rubens in Antwerp, an enormous privilege given the hundreds of applicants for a limited number of places.

Faydherbe returned to his hometown Mechelen where, thanks to the intercession of Rubens, he was quickly accepted as a master in the local Guild of St. Luke.

[4] Problems with the local Guild of St. Luke turned him into one of the most ardent advocates of the establishment of an art academy in Mechelen, following the example of Brussels and Antwerp.

For instance on the various projects he undertook in the St Rumbold's Cathedral in Mechelen, Rombaut Pauwels assisted him on the funeral monument of Archbishop Andreas Creusen (1660) and an altar (1660–1665) and Mattheus van Beveren assisted him with the painted wood and stone main altar.

The Contrareformation stressed certain points of religious doctrine, as a result of which certain church furniture, such as the confessional gained an increased importance.

They revolutionized the role of the sculptor from that of an ornamentalist to that of an independent creator of art works that replaced the individual architectural elements by an artwork that united sculpture and painting into an harmonic ensemble.

[7] Rubens, the leading Baroque painter in Flanders, also subscribed to the idea of the unity of the arts of sculpture and painting and this is the reason of his association with sculptors such as Johannes van Mildert, Georg Petel and Faydherbe.

The statues are characterized by a somewhat solemn monumentality: heavy draperies with a few but large folds that completely hide the body, with little detail and almost no differentiation in the representation of the different substances.

During this period he made mainly sculptures of men and he created a representational type, which is characterized by its broad and powerful conception without, however, becoming very monumental.

The statue has a flowing movement and the expressions of the faces are very natural and human as if representing a real life mother enjoying the company of her child.

The altars show an evolution that is fully in line with the development of his sculpture: an increasing austerity, simpler verticality, a clearer and more geometric language and a reduced use of capricious, spiral decorative elements.

He made two reliefs on the Adoration of the Shepherds and the Carrying of the Cross for the dome of the Basilica of Our Lady of Hanswijk in Mechelen.

[7] Faydherbe's earliest known works are ivory sculptures that he made under Rubens' guidance such as Leda and the Swan (now in the Louvre).

He did continue the work on the interior of that church after architect Jacob Franquart had to abandon the project for health reasons in 1645.

[14] Faydherbe remained in his architectural design, as in his sculpture, faithful to the prevailing Baroque rather than follow the trend towards classicism that arose later in the century.

The design provided for simple solid masonry for the exterior walls, built with brick with bands of white stone.

The rising costs and the mutual distrust caused delays in the work, so that the construction of the church ultimately lasted five years longer than expected.

Despite his lack of technical and financial insight Lucas Faydherbe had managed to create a new architectural language in this church which strongly contrasted with the contemporary, "bombastic" Baroque.

To conceal these constructive interventions the arch openings of these bays were partially filled with stucco and decorative sculpture.