 Verschaffelt was born in Ghent, Flanders in the Spanish Netherlands, as Pieter Antoon Verschaffelt.After his apprentice years in Ghent in the workshop of his grandfather, Verschaffelt worked in Brussels, Paris and, from 1737 to 1751, in Rome.In 1748, he received the commission to replace the damaged statue of the archangel Michael on the Castel Sant'Angelo in Rome, although it was not installed until 1753.