Adolf Quensen

Adolf Quensen

Adolf Quensen (born March 2, 1851 in Lamspringe , † April 16, 1911 in Helwan , Egypt ) was a German court decoration and church painter of historicism .

Life

After an apprenticeship as a painter with his father, Quensen received training at the Collegium Carolinum in Braunschweig and at the Royal School of Applied Arts in Munich . In 1872 and 1873 he studied church painting in Vienna . He then received orders to paint churches in Stuttgart and Nuremberg. In 1879 he received his first commission from August von Essenwein to paint the cathedral St. Blasii in Braunschweig. He also carried out painting work in churches in Helmstedt , Riddagshausen , Mariental , Runstedt and Waggum . In March 1881 he founded his own painting business. In the same year he married his wife Marie. In 1892 he was appointed "Duke Braunschweiger Hof-Decoration Painter".

Quensen carried out painting work in sacred and secular buildings both inside and outside the Duchy of Brunswick , including the Brunswick Cathedral, the Königslutter Cathedral (1887–94; fully restored in 2010), Dankwarderode Castle (1893/1898) and the new Brunswick Town Hall (1902). In 1891 he finished painting the church of St. Maria zur Höhe in Soest . In 1895 he painted the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church in Berlin . He also worked as a church painter in Schöningen , Bielefeld and Oelber am white path . Outside Germany he worked in the sultan's palaces in Istanbul .

In 1908 Quensen was awarded the Prussian Order of the Red Eagle, fourth grade, for his work on the Christ Church in Marienbad , now Mariánské Lázně in the Czech Republic.

For health reasons, Quensen handed the company over to one of his sons in 1910. Quensen died in Egypt in 1911 as a result of his anemia and was buried in the Braunschweig main cemetery. The inscription "Love never stops" was carved into his stone cross .

Adolf Quensen's grave in the main cemetery in Braunschweig

plant

Some of his works, especially the ceiling paintings in the knight's hall of Dankwarderode Castle, were destroyed in the Second World War. However, wall paintings have been preserved here.

Other works were partly lost due to renovations. Interior paintings, which Quensen was obliged to do in the church in Neuerkerode in 1883 , were covered with pastel shades in 1958. It was not until 1998 that the original painting was exposed again as part of a renewed renovation.

The paintings of the Luther Church in Bad Harzburg , which he created in 1903 , had a similar fate . During the first renovation after 1945, almost everything was painted over. Only the two apostles Peter and Paul were allowed to see their outlines from the painting on the wall. During a further renovation, the entire triumphal arch with the two apostles, six angels and Christ as the judge of the world was restored.

In the Kreuzkirche in Alt-Lehndorf (district of Braunschweig ), in which Adolf Quensen painted the ceiling and walls from 1903 to 1905, the artistic work disappeared after the war under wallpaper and gray-white paint. Only in 1972 the ceiling and in 1989 the apse , arches and window reveals were exposed again. A total restoration of all wall paintings was not done here.

It was the same with the painting of the St. Christine's Church in Walle bei Schwülper , which was built in the 1890s. However, this disappeared in the course of the redesign in the middle of the 20th century.

Not only the war but also decay posed a threat to Quensen's works. In 1894 , the Apelnstedt Church (near Sickte ) was extensively painted by Quensen, the constellations of the zodiac and an angel playing music above the organ were lost, whereas the four evangelists on the splendidly preserved altar wall are well preserved.

University diploma theses deal with the condition, preservation and restoration of his work.

Ceiling painting of the church in Lelm by Adolf Quensen

Altar mural of St. Antonius Church in Hasselfelde

His works can still be seen in some churches today:

• Tempera paintings in the side apses of the transept of the St. Marienberg monastery church in Helmstedt (around 1881, renovated in 2000),
• Wall and ceiling painting in the castle church of St. Annen in Oelber on the white road ( Baddeckestedt near Salzgitter ) from 1888, renovated in 1995,
• Wall painting on the apse of the church in Eitzum (1891/1892),
• Interior painting of the Immanuelkirche in Berlin (until 1893),
• Four evangelist pictures in the chancel of St. Thomas Church in Wolfshagen in the Harz Mountains (until 1894),
• "Collegiate Church of St. Peter and Paul" ( Kaiserdom Königslutter ):
  • Wall painting cycle on the northwestern crossing pillar ,
  • Medieval patterns (1890–1894) based on the plans of the southern German professor Dr. August von Essenwein,
• St. John the Baptist Church in Oberg (1903, Peine district ),
• Luther Church (Bad Harzburg) (from 1903, partially preserved),
• Paintings in the village church Benzingerode ,
• Ceiling paintings in the church in Lelm ,
• Wall painting cycle in the choir and in the transept of the Augustinian Canons Monastery Church of St. Lorenz west of the city of Schöningen ,
• Wall painting on the altar wall of St. Antonius Church in Hasselfelde (exposed and restored in 2002 ),
• Sky tent in Art Nouveau forms in the ribbed vault of the choir of the Trinity Church in Görlitz (1909–1910).

literature

• Adolf Quensen in Braunschweiger Stadtlexikon, 4th edition, Braunschweig, 1996.
• Regional news Wolfenbüttel of the Braunschweiger Zeitung of April 13, 2004.

Web link

Commons : Adolf Quensen  - collection of images, videos and audio files