Scheemakers studied in Rome in the late 1720s before settling in London. He is perhaps best known for executing the William Kent-designed sculpture of William Shakespeare which was erected in Westminster Abbey in 1740. He also made a large number of tombs.
Scheemakers was the teacher of Joseph Nollekens among others. Towards the end of his life, he returned to Antwerp where he had been born and died there.
Scheemakers brother, Henry Scheemakers, and his son, Thomas Scheemakers, were both also sculptors.